


Those Lost & Found

by J_Constantine



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: All criticism welcome, Explained in flashbacks, F/M, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, Mostly Teen and Up but some mature, No Beta all mistakes mine, Oliver/Kara in present, Probably missed some tags but nothing serious, mention of rape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-08-21 20:28:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16583591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_Constantine/pseuds/J_Constantine
Summary: Oliver Queen was a playboy billionaire before his boat trip turned into a nightmare when he was ship wrecked on an island for five years a time during which he became someone else, something else.Kara is an alien with no memory of her life before Earth, with her first two years being hell until her savior freed her.Now that Oliver has returned from the dead, with Kara by his side, how will they adjust to life back in civilisation and will Oliver's friends and family accept him for who he became in his years away. Can he hide his night time activities from those closest to him and also the police.Bad summary, read the story and form your own opinion.





	1. Chapter 1

After five years away from Starling he thought it would be a relief to return home, but he wasn’t home. Starling City is was Oliver Queen's home, not the home of the man he has had to become not only to survive but protect Kara as well. At the thought of her he looked to the other side of the plane to see if she was alright, a reaction he’s developed over the years and will need to learn to suppress as he can’t drop everything just to check on her when they’re back in Starling.

She was sound asleep, her perfect blonde hair resting weightlessly on her shoulders, he wondered how she slept after all they’d been through, he sheltered her the best he could but she hadn’t gotten through unscathed. If Oliver got six hours of sleep it was a good night, although most nights he didn’t sleep at all because he was either watching over Kara or avoiding his nightmares. That was another problem, he would need to move out of the mansion as soon as he could because if Moira, Robert or Thea heard his screams he would be taken to a shrink for PTSD and God only knows he can’t talk about what he’s done, even to Kara, because if she knew what he’s had to do for them, she’d never look at him the same again.

The abrupt landing shook Oliver from his thoughts and back to reality. The Queens were able to hide the location of the landing from the press so that they could have at least a day with their resurrected son before having to deal with those vultures, especially due to Oliver returning with a different blonde than he left with. Kara hadn’t even spoken English when Oliver met her, a meeting they both wish had been under different circumstances.  
\---------------------------------------------------------  
Five Years Ago, Lian Yu  
There had been storm warnings put out but they hadn’t realized how severe it would really be and as a result Oliver and Sara were now caught in a category four hurricane aboard an ill-equipped ship owned by Oliver’s dad, called the “The Queen’s Gambit”. The boat was rocking wildly, throwing things around the room, which wasn’t too dangerous until Sara was almost hit by a bedside table.  
“Ollie we need to get back to land.” Sara liked to state the obvious.  
“I know but the captain can barely keep us afloat never-mind be able to go in a specific direction. It’s O.K, we’re going to be alr…” The lightning strike caused the boat to kick like an angry bull, tossing Sara to the other-side of the room, so when the floor ripped open Oliver couldn’t help her.  
“SARA!!!”  
“OLLIE!!!”

Soon after Sara disappeared Oliver was flung threw a window by a large wave hitting the side of the ‘Gambit’, the cold water was a shock to his system and Oliver had to grab onto a stray piece of wood to keep from drowning but couldn’t prevent his loss of consciousness, as he slipped into darkness he saw an island in the distance.

Oliver had just landed on the beach, the lack of bobbing waking him up, and he found himself on the island he had seen from out in the sea,it was much bigger than he’d expected, he steadied himself before beginning to move off the beach towards the forest in search of something to eat and fresh water to drink. He hadn’t even made it past the rocks surrounding the shoreline when he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and looked down to see an arrow protruding from that same shoulder that was now bleeding. That’s just great, he thought as he turned around to see a hooded figure some forty feet away, the darkness began to encroach on his vision as he passed out for the second time in two days. He awoke in a dimly lit cave with the pain in his shoulder having dulled due to the lack of an arrow in it, sitting across from him was a hooded person, presumably the same hooded person who had shot him, but when they removed the green hood Oliver could see her hair was as black as coal and from the looks of it as dirty too, her figure was slight but strong as were her facial features and her eyes were an earthy brown that seemed to suit her well. If it weren’t for the vivid memory of an arrow in his shoulder he might have been attracted to her.

“What do you want with me?” he asked almost sounding angry, but his weariness betrayed him and his exhaustion was plain to see.  
“Why are you here?” the woman countered.  
“My boat was wrecked during a storm and I was drifting in the sea for two days I think, then I washed up on the beach, where you shot me. That hurt by the way.”  
“I thought you were a soldier and I did pull it out,” she said defensively, her expression softening slightly.  
Oliver remembered Sara and dreading her answer asked,”Did you see a small blonde woman anywhere?”  
“Yes,” Oliver lifted himself up waiting for her to go on,”But they took her to a camp about half an hour from here.”  
“Well let’s go get her then.” Oliver started getting up but the woman held him down.  
”You are injured and by the looks of it, untrained.”  
“I can’t just leave her there.”  
“That’s not what I said, I’ll train you enough to get…”  
“Sara.”  
“To get Sara back and then we’ll figure out what to do.”  
It occurred to Oliver that they didn’t know each other's names, “My name’s Oliver by the way.”  
“My name’s Shado, it’s nice to meet you Oliver.”  
“Nice to meet you too, Shado.” Oliver replied, sounding like each word was physically demanding to say.

 

Over the next few weeks Shado taught Oliver some simple take-downs she learned from self-defense classes she took after she decided to try and take on the Chinese Triads, a choice her father objected to. During their time together Oliver learned that Shado’s father, Yao Fei, was taken by the Triads to blackmail her into dropping her case against them and when she tried to meet them to get him back they kidnapped her and left both of them on the island to die. He also learned about the soldiers on the island, lead by a man called Fyers and kept in line by his enforcer that the soldiers call ‘Winter’, Shado hadn’t learned his real name yet but knew he didn’t come here with the other soldiers, his plane crashed somewhere on the island and when Fyers found him he offered the man a place in his ranks, after he killed his predecessor. The plan was simple, they go in at night, kill all the guards, rescue Sara, if she wasn’t already dead and leave before anyone knew they were there. When they got to the camp there were more guards than they had expected, considering it was only supposed to be Sara here and she wasn’t a dangerous prisoner, but the soldiers weren’t too much of a problem because they had been unprepared for a two person assault, although Oliver was hesitant to kill at first almost letting the lookout warn the rest of the camp, it became easier after the first time, which unsettled Oliver more than he’d care to admit. Once they had disposed of the corpses they began to search the outpost for Sara, they found her caged in one of the tents.  
“Ollie?”  
“Yeah, It’s me Sara.”  
“I thought you were dead.”  
“I could say the same for you.”  
“Who’s that?” Sara asked, indicating towards the hooded woman in the doorway. “That’s Shado, I’ll tell you about her later but for now we need to…”  
“Shhhhh.”

They both looked towards Shado wondering why they had been silenced, but when Shado showed no signs of telling them they decided to work on the zip ties on Sara’s wrists. While they were trying to untie her they heard a faint crying from somewhere in the camp, realizing that this is why Shado had shushed them and then Oliver asked the obvious question,”Is that someone…...crying?”  
“I think so,” Sara answered,”I’ve been hearing it since I got here, it only stops for about two hours once a week, when some man goes in there.”  
“What does he do?” asked Shado, not really wanting an answer, imagining all the horrible things that could be done in two hours.  
“I don’t know, there’s never any sounds, no crying, no screams, nothing.”  
“Shado you work on cutting Sara free, I’ll go find out where the crying is coming from.”  
“O.K, be careful.” the last part being said by both Shado and Sara simultaneously, as they both cared about and for Oliver, feelings he seemed to be completely unaware of. 

 

Oliver followed the sound of crying to a tent that was much larger than the rest and inside he was met the sight of a woman about his age blindfolded, with wrists raw from the ropes tightly tying them to the corners of the bed she was on, naked with bruises and marks all over her pale skin, her knees curled up in a futile effort to cover herself from view. After he removed the ropes she hugged her chest to try and hide some more of herself but when he took the blindfold off her crying slowly subsided, becoming more akin to whimper.  
“I won’t hurt you,” Oliver said in his softest and most sympathetic tone, taking off the jacket he was wearing, one he had acquired from a dead soldier seeing as he didn’t need it anymore, and offered it to the woman who he only know realized was actually blonde not brunette as it seemed from further away, it was just so filthy it had appeared brown. The woman put the jacket on and stared at Oliver for a few long seconds with sapphire eyes that made Oliver’s heart skip a beat before she wrapped him in a bear hug, not caring about her bare lower half, burying her face in his chest, silently thanking him because all she could do was continue to shed her tears, as she had done for the two years before her savoir had arrived.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Kara arrive at the Queen house, Laurel and Tommy welcome Oliver home too.

The drive to the mansion was not too long and Oliver let Kara sleep the entire way because she had tried to stay awake with him through the nights before their rescue and was tired, when they pulled up in front of the house Oliver realized Kara had woken up and was looking at him thoughtfully, he gave her a genuine smile as he wondered how he could possibly be with someone so much better than him in every way, someone he didn’t deserve. “You don’t have to tell them about us right away,” Kara said hoping to put his mind at ease. “There’s too many secrets that I have to keep from them, I need to tell them about us.” Oliver replied thinking about all the things he has to keep from his family.  
“At least give them a few days with you before telling them, I don’t want them to think I’m just taking you away again.”  
“OK, but only a few days.” Oliver conceded, knowing better than to try and change her mind.  
Some servants had come out to carry bags in from the car, even though there was only an old looking wooden crate, which Oliver insisted on carrying up the stairs to the entrance of the grand building he grew up in and at one point thought of as his home. Kara was shyly following behind Oliver as she approached the strange and unfamiliar house, filled with people she didn’t know, “It’s OK Kara, you can have a new life here, leave what’s in the past behind and move forward,” Oliver’s words were full of hope for her, hoping she can move past the horrors she’s been through. When Oliver opened the door Raisa was the first to move while Robert, Moira and Thea were frozen in place with shock, staring at the man before them, she moved forward, putting her hands on his shoulders, “Mr. Oliver, I’m glad you’re back,” she said with a smile on her face, Thea was the next to move, wrapping her brother in a hug that was surprisingly strong for such a small person, “You said the trip would only be a few weeks at most,” she tried to say it as a joke but couldn’t hide the croak as her tears welled up, “You know he never shows up on time,” Robert said from over Thea’s shoulder causing her to step aside and let him hug his not so dead son, “I kinda wrecked the boat dad,” Oliver said hoping to lift the mood, when Moira finally willed herself to move, walking up to Oliver with tears running down her cheeks, “My baby.” 

It was now that everyone noticed the awkward blonde by the door that was definitely not Sara Lance, “Everyone this is Kara Danvers, she was shipwrecked on the island with me,” Oliver said motioning to Kara to come forward, which she did reluctantly, resembling a child that was meeting someone for the first time. “Hi,” was all she could manage under the pressure of the situation, “Hello Kara,” Moira said in a motherly tone, clearly sensing the poor girl’s nervousness, “I’m Moira, Oliver’s mother, this is Robert, my husband, and that’s Thea, Oliver’s sister.”   
“It’s nice to meet you all, Oliver has told me a lot about you.” Kara said trying to remember what she had prepared in her head but completely blanking so she smiled instead.   
“Only good things I hope Oliver.” Robert said steering the conversation away from Kara, something she was very glad for.  
“Of course Dad, I told her how Thea loved to be called speedy,”   
“You ass!” Thea all but shouted, her voice sounding much higher than she intended.   
“Thea, language.” Moira corrected as a reaction more than anything.  
“But Mom I just got Tommy to stop calling me that and now Kara’s going to do it,” Thea’s sulking was less than believable so Kara paid no heed to it, despite the exaggerated pout she was doing.   
“Moving on before someone gets hurt, is there anyone you need to call Kara?”  
“Ugh, no Mrs. Queen, I don’t think so.”  
“Oh, does your family already know?”  
“No, well I didn’t call anyone and no-one saw me get off the plane so they probably don’t know about me yet.”  
Oliver noticed the confusion of his family and realized that he hadn’t explained Kara’s situation to them yet, “Umm, Kara hit her head when she landed and the impact affected her memory.” Oliver tried to think of a way to put the information so it wouldn’t sound as bad but Kara said it before he got a chance, “I can’t remember anything before the island except my name.”  
“Well I guess it’s a good thing you and Oliver landed at the same time then.”  
“Yeah, it was pretty lucky.”  
“Can I bring this to my room now?” Oliver asked, drawing everyone’s attention to the green crate still on the floor beside his feet.  
“Of course Oliver, it’s the same as you left it, I couldn’t bring myself to change anything. Kara do you want me to show you to a room?”  
“I don’t want to intrude Mrs. Queen, I’ll just find a hotel.”  
“Nonsense, there’s a spare room beside Oliver’s, you can sleep there until you get settled and please call me Moira, Mrs. Queen makes me feel old.”  
“Alright then, Moira, thank you.” Kara said, not wanting to give Oliver’s mother a reason to dislike her before she even knows about them. Oliver let Moira lead the way because he needed to talk to Kara about why she lied to his family as soon she met them, they would have to lie about so many things and adding more lies to the collection is asking for trouble, “Why did you say we landed at the same time?” Oliver whispered to Kara as they walked along a corridor, “Because Oliver,” her tone telling him it was a time to listen and stay quiet, “I didn’t want to have to explain to them how I survived for two years before you showed up.” 

 

Seven Years Ago, Lian Yu  
There was a crash of some sort off the coast of Lian Yu and Fyers sent some of his men out in a small boat to investigate but they didn’t find wreckage of any kind, they only found a girl, no older than eighteen, dressed in strange robes and floating on her back. She was brought directly to Fyers who, after trying to interrogate her, realized she had no memory and couldn’t even speak so he awarded her to his best soldier and enforcer, a man who wore a mask, although Kara never saw it she only heard the other soldiers talk about using words she didn’t understand to describe it, words like ‘Yellow’ and ‘Black’, but at the time Kara only thought of the words as incomprehensible sounds. The Man blindfolded her from the moment he had been given her and brought her to what seemed like his quarters where he stripped her bare and then tied her up, he always told her how many weeks it had been since she became his, right before he cut a small line on her back as a tally. A soldier had his way with her once and that was the only time the Man removed her blindfold, to show her the soldier’s headless corpse on the ground, he held her face still and her eyes open, forcing her to look at it so that she knew what would happen to her if she angered him, from then on she didn’t resist him, scream or cry when he came to her, she even trained herself not to tense or flinch when he cut her back, but the same couldn’t be said for when he wasn’t there, she cried and cried until her eyes ran out of tears. Then one day there were gunshots and shouting followed by silence, then she heard someone enter the tent and feared it was the Man and what he would do to her if he needed to take out some frustration so she tried her best to protect her body although she couldn’t do much with her hands tied up, but the person undid the ropes on her wrists allowing her to hold herself for the first time in years, then they removed the blindfold, something Kara would not dare to do encase the Man was just moving her, Kara was surprised when he gave her his coat so she did what she felt would show her thanks and held him close to her because he wasn’t a devil like the Man, he was an angel, her savior.

 

Present Day, Starling City  
“Here is your room Kara,” Moira said with a smile, “But if you feel uncomfortable about being close to Oliver I can move you to a different room, you must be sick of him by now.”  
Kara didn’t realize it was a joke at first and almost sprang to Oliver’s defense but then Oliver cut in, “Mom you can leave now,” beginning to lightly push her down the corridor, “Honey you need the key.”  
“It’s locked? Why?”  
“I thought if I kept it locked it would keep it the same, as if you never left, it’s silly now that I think about it.”  
“Right, well you can give me the key and you can go back down stairs with the others, Tommy will probably be here soon.” Moira handed it to him and made her way to the stairs reluctantly, leaving Kara and Oliver alone.  
“You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to, there’s plenty of hotels downtown,” Oliver suggested halfheartedly, knowing she wouldn’t spend another night in a hotel if there was any alternative.  
“Oliver if I wasn’t sleeping here you would be up all night worrying about me and despite your best efforts, you do need sleep occasionally. It doesn’t matter anyways, we’ll be out of here in a few weeks and in a new apartment,” she laid a hand on his shoulder as she passed by and followed after Moira.  
Oliver unlocked and opened the door to his room, seeing that his mother had been literal when she said she hadn’t changed anything, there was dust on every inch of every surface, the bed sheets looked to be the same as before he left as well, which should have given him a sense of familiarity but when you’ve spent five years worth of nights awake, on the ground or in a strange place, beds become somewhere to sleep, nothing more. He laid the crate down on the floor beside the bed and slid it under, he wouldn’t need what was in it until tomorrow night at the soonest, tonight he was occupied, “Oliver!” Robert called from downstairs, “Tommy and Laurel are here.” Shit, he had hoped he wouldn’t have to tell Laurel about Sara for a few days but he did expect her to be over within the an hour of him being back to ask about her sister, but it didn’t make telling her any easier, especially when Laurel was the reason Sara decided to go on the trip to China in the first place.  
When Oliver came down the stairs Tommy walked up to him with a look of complete disbelief on his face, “You didn’t even call once,” he said as a smile began to form, “There was no cell service,” Oliver replied as a smile spread across his face too, then he saw Laurel coming in the front door and the smile vanished. He tried to get to her first before she saw Thea talking to a blonde and started moving towards her, “Wait Laurel,” but she wasn’t listening, she put a hand on the blonde’s shoulder, “Sara?” Kara turned around to see a stranger looking at her with tears in her eyes, ”You must be Laurel, Oliver told me you were Sara’s sister, I’m sorry,” Oliver got to them before Laurel broke down and he was the only reason she didn’t fall to the floor, she wasn’t crying though, she had a static face of shock before she spoke, “Did she suffer?”  
“Laurel, you don’t need to know these things.” Oliver tried to dissuade her.  
She raised her head to look at the blonde woman again, “Please tell me, did she suffer?”  
Kara looked to Oliver who sighed and nodded, “No, she didn’t suffer.”  
Laurel nodded in acknowledgement, “I’ll tell Dad and Mom, they will want to know.”  
“Laurel, are you OK?”  
“No,” she answered honestly, “But I should probably go, you just got back, probably have people to see,” she stood up and walked towards the door, “If you need help being legally resurrected, just call,” with that said she left the house, got in her car and drove away.  
“Ollie,” Thea said breaking the silence, “What happened to Sara?”  
Oliver wanted to tell her the whole truth but thought better of it, deciding to give the short version instead, ”She didn’t suffer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be mostly/all flash back, hope you like it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All flashback, just to get it done in one.

**Four Years Ago, Lian Yu**

Since rescuing Sara and freeing Kara the soldiers had been searching the forest for them constantly but Shado’s cave was hidden well, the searches did limit their activities though which made locating Fyer’s camp take much longer than it should have. Sara had been teaching Kara English, something Kara picked up quickly, unlike stitching up wounds, her’s seemed to always come undone after a while and Sara would have to do it again, much to Oliver’s discomfort, “We don’t have enough numbing herb,” she’d say but somehow there was always enough for Shado. Oliver trained everyday until Shado had thought him all she knew then he perfected it which, along with his working out, had made Oliver a decent fighter, one who could handle Fyers’s men with ease, even if all he had was a bow Shado had fashioned and some crude arrows against fully automatic weapons, but he wasn’t bullet proof and already had more scars than he would’ve liked. 

           Once they located the camp it was a matter of mapping patrol routes, shift changes and most importantly, which tent Fyers sleeps in. The plan was simple in theory, Shado would sneak through the camp avoiding the patrols, cut Fyers’s throat and leave, all without being seen or heard, in theory, in reality Shado got as far as leaving when she was spotted by a new and unknown guard who alerted all other camps and just their luck, at the closest camp happened to be the masked man who killed Shado’s father. When his jeep rolled up Shado told Oliver to run, that she would hold him off so that Oliver could get away but Oliver didn’t listen, instead he stayed in the bushes and looked on as the masked man blocked every attack Shado could throw with ease before he thrust his sword through her chest, before Shado died he leaned in and said loud enough for Oliver to hear, “Let’s hope your friends put up a better fight.” Oliver started sprinting in the other direction, back to the cave where Sara and Kara were waiting for him and Shado to return with the good news of Fyers’s death, unsure of how he would break the loss to them, especially Kara seeing as she only had three friends in the world and one had just been killed.

       With Fyers dead the masked man who, through torturing soldiers Oliver learned was called Wintergreen, Winter for short, took charge of the small army and lead a search of the island himself to try and find the group and most importantly his trophy. Their cave had been passed a few times but the soldiers would find it soon enough which meant finding a new place to hide was the top priority, while out looking for somewhere Oliver found a group of soldiers and tracked them to an old plane wreck that they entered cautiously. There were gunshots and cursing followed by silence, then a man with blood on his sword walked out of the plane and towards Oliver, lifting up his pistol and pointing it right at Oliver’s head, “Whoa wait I’m not a soldier,” Oliver said as he started to back up away from the man, “Then why are you here?” He asked, not lowering his gun. “My boat was shipwrecked during a storm, I and the girl that was with me, Sara, were stranded here, she was taken by Fyers’s men but another woman, Shado, helped me rescue her and someone else from a camp, but a man in a mask killed Shado when she killed Fyers.”

“Fyers is dead?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Who’s in charge now?”

“The man in the mask, he took over and no-one questioned it.”

“What kind of mask is it?”

“Half yellow, half black,” judging by the look on the man’s face he already knew that, “Why do I get the feeling you knew that?”

“I crashed here with my partner, we were supposed to eliminate the threat and evac but our plane was shot down by Fyers’s men, when I woke up my partner was gone so I assumed he  sucked out as we fell but when I started hearing chatter on the radio about a masked man I realised it was him,” the man went back into the plane wreck and returned with a mask identical to Winter’s, “We wore these when we were in the field to hide our identities.”

“Can you stop pointing that gun at me now?”

“Can I trust you?”

“About as much as I can trust you.”

“Fair enough,” the man lowered his gun, “I’m Slade Wilson.”

“Oliver Queen,” he said extending his hand to shake Slade’s, “We need a place to hide, the soldiers have almost found our cave so…”

“Yes you can come here but if you get me caught I’ll gut you like a fish.” Slade smiled at Oliver which made Oliver think he had misheard him.

         Sara and Kara were wary of Slade at the beginning but once he took a bullet for Kara they began to see him as a sort of surrogate father, a stern anti-fun father but for Kara that was more than she could ask for, she realized soon after that the way she felt about Oliver was different in some way from the way she felt about Slade and Sara, she couldn’t pick out what it was but it was definitely different. Slade’s time in the ASIS meant that he was trained in fighting to a level he claimed to be on par with Winter, something Oliver would also need to be if he was going to kill Winter along with the rest of the forces on the island because they are past half measures, they all had to die for what happened to Shado. The camp Winter was in was protected by every soldier that wasn’t out searching so they would need a distraction to thin the herd and allow them to gain access to the camp without being seen, they had decided that Kara and Sara would stay at the plane while Oliver and Slade went to the camp but Kara was very much against that idea, “What if I just come and hide in the bushes,” she pleaded as she followed Oliver around the camp, “If they find you they’ll kill you, I’m not taking the chance. Slade and I will be back in a few hours anyways.” Oliver said,cementing his position for everyone to see, “Why are you insisting on coming anyway?”

“I’ve already lost Shado I don’t want to lose you too.”

“You won’t, I promise.” Oliver lifted Kara’s head so she couldn’t avoid looking at him, “You won’t.”

       Slade planted explosives on one of the land to air missile launchers which was enough of a distraction to draw half the guards away, leaving a gap in the perimeter for Oliver to sneak through, he caused disturbances to draw Winter out into the open and that’s when Slade attacked him, leaving Oliver to deal with the soldiers. During his fight with the soldiers Oliver ended up separated from Slade, looking around he found himself in some sort of clearing, standing above the body of a man he had just stabbed with an arrow when suddenly Winter emerged from the bushes holding a pistol and a bloody sword, “You killed my best men, with a bow no less, that’s impressive.” The look on Oliver’s face said all that needed to be said, “Slade didn’t put up as much of a fight as I thought, his time with you must have made him weak,” Oliver went to his quiver for an arrow but Winter was faster and shot him in the shoulder causing him to shout in pain, “Why don’t you just kill me?” Oliver spat as he clutched his bleeding shoulder with his other hand.

“You can’t just die, you forced me to kill my best friend, do you really think I didn’t know where he was? You need to suffer for that, your friends should be with us soon.”

“What do you mean? What did you do?”

“Nothing yet, the soldiers I had searching the island found your plane and are bringing the two women here,” he tossed a pair of zip ties onto the ground in front of Oliver, “On your knees and tie your hands together,” Oliver reluctantly knelt and tied his hands, “That woman I killed, were you close?”

“Why, are you going to apologize?”

“No I was just curious what would drive a man to embark on a suicide mission, Slade is a soldier and he had a job to do, that I understand but you could have just stayed hidden, for a while at least.”

“You killed her for doing the right thing and then burned her corpse like she was nothing more than a diseased animal, she deserved better than that.”

“Do you know where we are? We’re on Lian Yu, Purgatory, you don’t end up in purgatory if you’re a saint, how many of my men do you think she’s killed?” Oliver didn’t look up from the point in front of him, he knew Shado had killed many men but they were bad people so it was justified, “Thirty two, she killed that many people and you still think she’s good?” Winter let his rhetorical question hang for a moment before pressing on, “Soldiers who were here to serve the greater good, ever hear of A.R.G.U.S? No and it’s because they do this kind of shit, the stuff that if the world knew about they would brand it evil and leave out the necessary part, you my ‘friend’ are just the unlucky son-of-a-bitch who got in the way.” Oliver could hear footsteps behind him and knew the soldiers had arrived with Sara and Kara and he could also hear Kara crying but it was muffled and when the soldiers brought the women around in front of him, he saw that Kara had been gagged and Sara had a split lip that was still bleeding profusely, “What do you want with them?” Oliver asked, doing all he could to keep his voice steady as he saw the fear in Kara’s eyes, “I’m the one who killed your men just let them go.”

“Let them go? Their your punishment,” Winter shot the two soldiers that had brought the women, the sound making Kara jump, “I get to go back to my life because no-one knows what I did but before I end your life I’ll make you choose,” Winter raised the gun and pointed it at Sara then at Kara, “Choose.”

“You think I’ll choose which one you’ll kill?” Kara started sobbing again and Sara’s face of bravery was giving way to one of fear, “I won’t.”

“Five.” Oliver started struggling against his restraints hoping they would loosen enough for him to get free, “Four.” Sara’s visage was crumbling to reveal a scared little girl who didn’t want to die, “Ollie,” she tried to say but her split lip made it hard to make out, “It’s OK Sara, you’re going to be alright.”

“Lying in your last moments and you say I’m the bad guy. Two.” Winter’s gun was moving between the two women inviting Oliver to choose, “Me, I choose myself, kill me and let them live.”

“One.” Winter pointed the gun at Kara and as a reaction Oliver jumped in front of her to protect her, “At last, you made your choice,” Winter turned the gun and shot Sara in the head spraying blood across the forest floor, “NO!!!” Oliver shouted from the ground, in his fury he dislocated his thumb which let his hands free and the pain only fueled his fire. He tackled Winter who’s injuries from his fight with Slade prevented him from fighting Oliver off, he struck Winter in the side of the head giving him enough time to get the pistol out of his hand and move away to get out of reach, “Killing an unarmed man is different,” Winter said smugly, “You don’t come back from it, it gives away a piece of your soul that you can’t get back and you can’t do that.” Kara had gotten her restraints off and was kneeling beside Sara’s body weeping for her friend but Oliver didn’t dare take his eyes off Winter for a second, “Take off your mask, I want to see your face before I kill you,” Oliver said trying to buy himself a second to prepare, “Very well,” Winter said removing the mask to reveal a face half covered in burn scars, “Satisfied?” he cracked a sinister smile and turned to Kara, “I’m surprised you don’t remember me, I thought I had made an impression during our time together,” Kara looked as confused as Oliver when she walked up to Winter to get a better look, “How many weeks have we missed now? Six? Seven?” Then it clicked for both of them, he was Kara’s captor and the memories Kara had tried to move on from came back at once causing her to stagger backwards but Oliver seemed unfazed by the new information and in that moment Winter saw the warmth leave his eyes as the scared man fell away and Oliver’s true self was plain to see, he was a killer devoid of emotion, a monster. 

         The gunshot was the only sound in the forest followed by Winter’s lifeless body hitting the ground, Oliver walked over to Kara who had regressed to the wreck he found her as, picked her up in his arms a walked away from Sara’s body and what remained of the old Oliver Queen because to survive he would need to be a monster, a killer, the person Shado, Slade and Winter all had a hand in creating. He understood then what Shado had told him after his first kill, she told him he couldn’t live the life he lived with his family anymore, that he would have to become something else to survive, he caught his first glimpse of that when he killed Winter because unlike when he killed the other soldiers he didn’t feel the guilt of taking another life as if he had become numb to it, maybe he was a killer after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Starling City, Present day  
Tommy left soon after Laurel saying that he didn’t want her to be alone when she finally broke down, Thea and Moira had been badgering Kara about taking her shopping since she told them that she didn’t have any clothes with her except what she was wearing, “Come on Kara you have to get clothes anyways so why not have Starling City’s very own Thea Queen take you?”   
“I’m not going to be able to turn you down, am I?”  
“No,” answered Oliver from over Kara’s shoulder, “You mind if I talk to Thea for a bit?”  
“No not at all,” Kara said politely despite the fact she now either had to talk to Oliver’s parents or stand in the corner waiting for Oliver and Thea to finish talking, “Kara,” already she could recognise the voice of Moira, “You and I should have lunch with the Bowens, I think you’ll like   
Janice’s son Carter,” Kara wasn’t listening to Moira, instead she was trying to hear what Oliver and Thea were talking about but she couldn’t make out much, then she heard Moira saying her name, “So, will you come?” Kara abandoned her eavesdropping and turned back to Moira “Of course, that sounds lovely.” Thea caught the tail end of the conversation and decided to step in, “Mom why are you already playing matchmaker?”   
“It’s just lunch Thea, besides Kara is a grown woman and can make her own decisions. I have a meeting to get to now but I hope to see you for lunch at Providence, Thea can take you after you’re done shopping,” and with that Moira and Robert left in a car that had been waiting outside. Kara was clearly panicking, “Thea what did I just agree to do? Was it bad? Of course it was bad I’m me I always get into situations I can’t get out of, why can’t I just do stuff right, I should…” Thea was shocked by how quickly Kara had been reduced to a babbling wreck, “It’s better to let her finish,” Oliver said from behind Thea, “She usually needs air after about a minute.”  
Kara suddenly began gasping and before she could start to babble again Thea lead her to the kitchen, “Do you need something to drink?”  
“This early? Oh right, coffee please. What did I say I’d do?”  
“You agreed to have lunch with my mom and the Bowens,” Thea was clearly withholding some information and Kara couldn’t think why, “What is it Thea?”  
“My mom may be using it as a way to introduce you to her friends son, Carter Bowen.”  
“So, I can just tell him I’m not interested, right?” Thea handed Kara the coffee but said nothing, “I can’t just say no?”  
“Kara you can say no, he just won’t listen and turning him down makes you the forbidden fruit and he’ll just want you more, by the way do not tell Oliver about this, he doesn’t like Carter at all and Carter hates Oliver with a passion.”  
“What should I do?” Kara moaned as she put her head on table, accidentally letting Thea see down her back, “What’s that on your back?” she asked clearly concerned, “Nothing,” Kara insisted, sitting up straight again, “Are we going to go shopping soon?” she said desperately wanting to change the subject and Thea obliged but made a mental note to ask Oliver about them later, “Sure, I’ll just get my coat.” Oliver passed Thea in the doorway and walked up to Kara, “What was that about?” he asked, “Lunch with your mom, she saw my scars Ollie, she didn’t press but she will probably ask you about them later, what’ll you tell her?”  
“Cut your back on rocks, had them before the island, I’ll figure something out just don’t let her see them fully or there is no way she’ll believe anything I tell her. And Kara”  
“Yes?”  
“You’re supposed to have been stranded on an island for five years, try not to be normal.”  
“What do you mean not normal?” Kara asked as she explored the kitchen, her hands settling on a collection of chef knives.  
“Would there be heels on a deserted island? No, so you don’t know how to walk in heels, same goes for languages and technology.”  
“So I have to be a dumb blonde?” Oliver’s look answered the question, “Fine, but I’m starting ‘studying’ soon, I can’t play dumb forever.” Oliver let a smile creep onto his lips, “Who said play dumb?” If Oliver didn’t have his quick reflexes the knife would have got him in chest.

Downtown Starling, Later   
“Come on Kara, last shop,” Thea playfully teased while Kara heaved the ridiculous amount of bags along wondering why she needed so many clothes, “After this you get to go back to the house and change for your lunch date.” Kara visibly cringed at the word, “Please don’t call it a date, it’s just lunch with your mother and her friend.”  
“Don’t forget her eligible bachelor of a son,” Thea said, delighting in the way it made Kara squirm, “He’s just so perfect.” The two women turned into the shop and soon enough Thea had a multitude of outfits for Kara to try on, she enlisted the help of one of the staff to judge how they looked on her, “Where are you going?” Kara asked trying not to sound like child when a parent leaves, it didn’t work, “Oliver wanted me to pick something up for him, it won’t take long, besides you have all these to try on.” Thea didn’t give Kara the opportunity to protest leaving her with the stranger, “Hi, I’m Kara,” she said while walking into the dressing room with a few items, “I’m Catherine, but you can call me Cat. Umm…”  
“Yes?” Kara said trying to encourage the young girl to ask whatever it was.  
“How do you know Thea Queen?” Cat asked tentatively.  
Kara hadn’t thought about how to explain that and Oliver wasn’t there to bail her out, “I’m a friend of her brother, we knew each other for a while before he left and when I heard he was alive I came back to see him, to see how he was,” Kara hoped the answer was satisfactory.  
“Oh, so how long have you two been together?”  
“I’m sorry?” Kara responded shocked and a little angry, “We are not together.”  
“Oh my god I’m so sorry,” Cat said and Kara could hear the panic in her voice, “It’s just that Oliver Queen knowing a beautiful woman and not sleeping with her is strange, for him.”  
“And why do you think you know him?” Kara asked quite accusingly.  
“I have been following the Queen family for a while, not in stalker way, I’m trying to be a journalist, the most public family in Starling is a right of passage. At least I think it is?” Cat rambled out quickly.  
“That explains the questions, how is it going for you?” Kara asked in a softer tone.  
“I get by but I need something big to get noticed,” Kara opened the curtain to get more clothes and leave out the tried ones, “I was your big story?” the young woman searched for an answer but failed to find one, “I don’t know, I just thought a new friend of Thea Queen would be more of a story.”  
“I’m sorry to disappoint but I really do hope you get your story,” Kara stepped out of the dressing room in her clothes, “Can you just lie to Thea and tell her they all look great?”  
“Sure, if you give me some gossip.” Cat said smiling cheekily.  
“You really are a journalist aren’t you? Fine, I’m having lunch with Mrs. Queen and the Bowens in Providence.” Kara told her, feeling bad about not being able to help her.  
“Wait, you are friends with Oliver Queen and are having lunch with Carter Bowen? Maybe you’re not a big story now but you will be soon.”  
Thea came in holding a bag in one hand and her phone in the other, “So?”  
“They all look great Ms. Queen,” Cat said with a smile on her face, “You heard her,” Kara said clearly bored, “Can we leave now?”  
“Yes Kara, after I pay we can leave.” Thea said like she was talking to a child causing Kara to glare back.

Kara was waiting outside for Thea to pay for all the clothes when somebody came up with a camera and started taking photos of her, “Who are you? What are you doing?” Thea came out of the shop with some bags and once she saw the photographer called the driver over from the car, “Come on get him away from her, you should be watching her to,” Thea all but shouted at her driver and bodyguard who was now making the man run off, “Sorry about that Kara but I’m not going to lie to you it will probably get more common the longer you’re here.”  
“That’s OK I’ll get used to it, I hope.” Kara said failing to convince herself or Thea.  
“You treat her the same as you treat me, is that clear Mr. Diggle?” Thea asked the man as he lead them back to the car.  
“Yes Ms. Queen, it won’t happen again.” the tall man responded, he opened the door for Thea and went around the other side to do the same for Kara, “Are you a soldier Mr. Diggle?” Kara had seen enough soldiers to recognise the way they carried themselves, “Three tours Ma’am,” the man replied automatically, “How’d you Know?”  
Kara smiled at him, “It’s the way you walk, it’s just,” Kara searched for the perfect word, “Soldier-y,” Kara’s smile widened a little more and she got in the car, closing the door behind her.

The drive back to the mansion didn’t seem to take as long the second time because Kara was so captivated by John Diggle’s stories of his time in the army that she was almost disappointed when they arrived, “Come on Kara you only have an hour to get ready,” Thea called from behind the car, “Coming! Thanks for the stories John,” Kara said before she got out of the car and followed Thea up the stairs to the house, opening the door for her because Thea had taken all of the bags instead of waiting for Kara to help. “You like you’re about to collapse,” Kara said as she watched Thea make her way up the stairs and stumble towards Kara’s room where she threw the bags down on the floor before collapsing on the bed, “Clothes are heavy,” Thea moaned, “Pick up that and that,” she said, pointing at two bags on the ground.  
“Why these?” Kara asked holding up high heels and dress.  
“Those heels are Burberry so Ms. Bowen will like you and the dress is mauve, a colour Carter hates,” Thea said sounding very pleased with herself.  
Kara’s lips broke into a smile, “Perfect, should I try them on?”  
“You thought you would be going to lunch with my mother in an outfit I haven't approved of? Silly girl. Go get changed, I’ll start putting these away.” Thea had begun to smile herself, “Now go you need to eat before you leave.”  
“Eat? But I’m going to lunch,” Kara said as she disappeared behind a screen.  
“Kara, going to lunch and eating lunch are different,” Thea could practically feel Kara’s confusion, “You eat lunch when you’re hungry but going to lunch is to show what kind of a person you are, HOW you eat is more important than what you eat.”  
“Thea,” Kara said suddenly, “Where have I been for the last five years?”  
“On an island.” Thea answered like a scolded child.  
“I can’t eat all fancy, I’ll be a wreck in front of everyone.” Kara stepped out from behind the screen wearing the dress and heels, “Why would anyone wear these shoes? They’re so hard to walk in.”  
“I can help with the eating but you just gotta practise walking in heels,” Thea said as she put the last of the clothes in the closet, “Come on Kara.” Thea left the room with a very unstable looking Kara following behind her, she knew how to walk in heels but didn’t want to have to explain why to Thea who already had enough questions as it is, “What are we eating for lunch then?” Kara asked as they made their way to the dining room, “Whatever has been prepared, hopefully you’re not allergic.”  
“That’s not funny Thea, I might be allergic we don’t know,” Kara said with her most concerned look on her face.  
“Are you trying to use possible allergies to get out of lunch with my mother? I’ve already used every excuse there is so unfortunately if you don’t show my mom will blame me and I need to be in her good graces for so she let’s me go to my friends party, which means you get to go to lunch,” Thea’s smile was enough to persuade Kara to swallow her distaste of the man she hadn’t met yet, “Fine I’ll go, but you have to take me to the party, deal?”  
“Deal. Now,” Thea said turning to face the table of food in front of them, “Dig in.”

Kara had see most of the food before as a result of her and Oliver’s travels although it was strange that there was so much food for only her and Thea, “Is it just us or are more people coming too?” As if they were waiting for her to ask, Oliver and Tommy walked into the room from the other door, “Hey,” Tommy said shortly followed by, “Wow, you look great, like supermodel great,” his eyes moved over her body and it took all of Oliver’s strength not to hit Tommy, “Thanks Thomas,” Thea laughed a little, “What?” she asked, wondering what could have been funny.  
“No-one has called me Thomas in years, unless you count cops and my dad,” Tommy said with a well rehearsed smile, “But why are you dressed like that for lunch?”  
“She’s having lunch with my mom and I need to make sure she can walk in heels, why Tommy is it too distracting?” The look Thea shot let him know how carefully he needed to choose his next words, “No?” Thea’s smile informed him he chose right.  
“Are Mom and Dad coming?” Oliver asked, hoping to move the conversation away from how jaw droppingly stunning Kara looked and she didn’t even have makeup on, she was one of those people who had naturally perfect skin and raw unequaled beauty.  
“They haven’t called so they must still be in the meeting,” Thea answered hoping they weren’t in some sort of trouble.

Unknown Location, Same Time  
The room was full of the most powerful people in Starling City, all of whom were patiently waiting for the man in charge, the wait was meant to be intimidating but it only served to annoy everyone immensely. The doors opened and Malcolm Merlyn strode in with his usual air of superiority that everyone who met him loathed, “Why are we here Malcolm, is there a problem with the proceedings?” a woman in all black asked from the end of the table that every except for Malcolm was sitting at. “Everything is running smoothly in regards to the Undertaking, that’s not why I called you here,” for a brief moment Malcolm appeared to be scared but Moira wrote it off as her mind playing tricks on her, “I have heard some rumors of a very dangerous man coming to Starling and he may already be here so you should all up your security.” “Why don’t you just send your personal assassin?” a man called from behind Moira, the abilities of Malcolm’s assassin were well known to everyone in the room, he had never been caught or even seen by anyone, including the Starling City police. “The man or rather the monster that trained my assassin was killed by this new threat and besides no-one knows where he is, him being here is merely a rumor but one that should be taken seriously none the less. For safety reasons we will not have another meeting for two months so if one is called it is a trap and you must not turn up, have a good day,” with that said Malcolm left the room soon followed by every other person who were all clearly terrified.

Back At The Mansion, Same Time  
“We should just eat without them, we can’t have Kara missing her first lunch,” Oliver said with a smile because didn’t know who would be at the lunch, he and everyone else took seats at the table, Kara and Thea sitting across from the two boys. Kara wanted to devour everything in front of her but unfortunately it would seem rude, so she only took as much as the very regal looking Thea Queen. “What should I do at the lunch, just sit there and look pretty?” Tommy didn’t think his next words through, “And what a fine job of that you do.” The comment earned him a kick under the table from Thea, “Sorry,” he said but Kara felt it was more directed at Thea then her, “My mom will do most of the talking, so yeah just order a salad, eat it slowly and smile, OK?” Kara was hoping for a little more than that but she’ll take what she can get, “Sure, I can do that.”  
“You should probably leave soon, where are you meeting?” Oliver asked, Kara looked to Thea for the answer, “Providence, anyway Kara and I are going to leave now otherwise she’d be late and Mom would blame me.” The two women got up and started walking towards the front door when Oliver pulled Thea aside telling Kara to go on ahead, “Did you get it?” he asked, already knowing the answer, “Yes but you can’t go snooping or she’ll know somethings up,” Thea then left the house catching up with Kara before she got in the car, “Anything wrong?” Kara asked, “No, Oliver was just asking if I got something he asked for, nothing important,” despite her smile Kara wasn’t convinced.   
The drive into the city was quiet apart from the music on the radio and Kara was just relishing in the fact that there was no danger, for the first time in years she wasn’t scared, the car pulled up outside the restaurant all too soon and Kara finally had to face the Bowens. Thea practically shoved her out of the car which then promptly left so that Kara couldn’t hop back in, the man at the door led her to the table where Moira was already waiting patiently for her to arrive, “Kara, I really wasn’t sure if you would turn up,” Moira said as her lips broke into a smile, “The Bowens should be here soon.”  
“I thought I was late,” Kara said with a sigh of relief as she took her seat beside across from Moira, “Am I overdressed?” she asked noticing the power suit her company was wearing. “Oh no, not at all,” Moira replied with a shake of her head and a slight laugh, “I would be in a dress too if it weren't for all the meetings I have today, you look wonderful by the way and you walk well in heels,” the last part showing her surprise and intrigue. “Thank you and the heels are thanks to your daughter’s tips, she also said ‘Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world’, but I thought this was just lunch I don’t want to be conquering anything on my first day here, I don’t even know how to put a bra on Thea had to help,” Kara stopped talking when she realised Moira wasn’t looking at her but passed her instead, “Please say he’s not behind me,” Kara pleaded, unable to make herself turn.  
“He’s not behind you,” a deep male voice said from over Kara’s shoulder, “Which he isn’t behind you exactly?”  
“Malcolm you are scaring the poor girl to death, she’s as pale as a ghost,” Moira tried to sound empathetic but the barely contained laughter wasn’t helping, “Come around, sit our lunch date seem to be running late.” A tall, well built man stepped out from behind Kara, rounded the and took a seat beside Moira, Kara thought she may have seen something in the look he gave Moira but decided to ignore it rather than make assumptions about strangers, “I do apologize Kara was it?” she gave a quick nod, focusing not on his words but the voice, it sounded like someone she’d met before but she couldn’t place it, “Right, Kara, I am sorry for scaring you but may I ask who you hoped I wouldn’t be?”  
Kara looked to Moira who gave a nod as if to give her permission to tell him, “The Bowens,” she said noticing the sudden change in Malcolm’s demeanor. “Ah,” was all he said before standing up, “I have something to do elsewhere right now, I’m actually late in fact,” he began to leave when Janice and Carter Bowen entered the restaurant, “Shit,” he said under his breath but the two ladies at the table heard him just fine, “Why does he not want to run into the Bowens?” Kara asked in a whisper, causing Moria to turn away from the approaching mother and son, “He had a one night stand with her sister, but on that same night he had a one night stand with her,” the woman told the story so cheerfully it made Kara think she had misheard her, “Right, well that would explain it.” To say that the slap shook the room would somehow be an exaggeration and not do it justice. The Bowens took the available seats at the table and Kara did her best to direct conversation to anything that wouldn’t require her to engage with the other people around the table and to her surprise Moira seemed to be helping her but then the waiter just had to ruin the flow. After he had taken orders and left there was no conversation happening so as one would expect Janice tried to start one, “So Kara, what do you do?” she asked completely unaware of the problems that question posed but luckily Oliver had Kara memorise a story for this exact purpose, but being Kara she had completely forgotten it, “Well I don’t work per say, my family had a lot of money and I inherited it, I just try to help as many people as I can through charity work. What do you do, if you don’t mind me asking?” Kara asked hoping to once again shift the conversation away from her, “Well it’s mainly my husband who does the work I just try to be the best wife I can be by…” Kara had tuned out instead trying to get a good look at the man who seemed to be watching them from the other side of the restaurant but then he left so she wrote it off as paranoia, “So Kara?”   
“Oh sorry, I spaced out for a second what were we talking about?” It was Carter who spoke next but his eyes seemed to be drifting down from her face a lot, “Would you like to go to the ‘End of Summer’ party with me?” How could she say no, it would be rude and would arouse suspicion about her and Oliver, “Of course, when is it?” Moira’s face lit up with enthusiasm at the thought of her matchmaking attempt succeeding, “Don’t worry it’s not until next week, we can get a dress in that time.” The small talk continued for nearly twenty minutes and Kara wondered how so much could be said about such trivial things but finally the Bowens got up and left, Janice suggesting they get together again, but while they said their goodbyes Carter surprised her with a kiss on the cheek and it took everything Kara had not to recoil at the touch but she stood fast and braved the brief disrespect of her personal space. Both her and Moira left soon after, returning to the mansion before eight o’clock, upon arrival Thea ambushed the two of them and bragged Kara up the stairs saying something about a ‘back from the island dinner’ and Moira just continued on into the conference room where she was to have yet another meeting.   
Thea looked like she would rip the dress right off of Kara but the pain of such an act would be too much so she settled for scolding her for being back so late, “Thea, I’m sorry for being late for a dinner I didn’t know about, how can I ever forgive you?” Kara’s puppy dog eyes were good and her feigned regret was almost enough to break Thea’s resolve but then she saw the time and knew she had to speed up the process. Kara wasn’t expecting the force with which she was pushed onto the bed and began to take off Kara’s heels, “How did you deter Mr. Bowen anyway?” Kara stayed silent for a bit longer than she had intended, “Kara? You did turn him down, right?” Kara closed her eyes not wanting to see the look on Thea’s face while, “I’m going to the ‘End of Summer’ party with him,” Thea stopped halfway to the wardrobe, turning to face her newly acquired sister figure, “You are doing what now?” Kara tried to remember just how she got roped into the situation, “Well he asked me and your mom was there and she knows I don’t have anything to do, so if I said no she would either out me or probably worse, think I’m a liar. So I said yes, but this is the last time, after the party he will probably try to kiss me, right?” Thea nodded not sure where Kara was going with this, “When he tries I’ll just say no and if he keeps pushing I’ll try to leave, if he tries to stop me he won’t exactly look good.” Thea looked at Kara with doubt on her face, “What?” Thea didn’t want to say it to Kara’s face so she turned away, mumbling something to herself as she took a box out of the closet, “Thea come on just say it.” Thea walked over to the bed carrying what Kara could assume was her dress in a box and then Thea looked directly at the floor, “How do you know you’ll turn him down?” Kara couldn’t stop the thought from invading every corner of her mind, “I mean Carter isn’t exactly bad looking,” Thea saw the rageing emotions behind Kara’s eyes and instantly wished she could unsay those words, “You know what that was stupid, of course you’ll turn him down,” but the seeds of doubt had been planted and were already rooting themselves in Kara’s mind. Thea need to change the subject and decided to show Kara the dress, “Wow,” was all she could manage, “It’s beautiful.”  
Oliver was waiting at the front door on time, waiting for his non-date, as Tommy had called it, to be ready. He was glad he had gotten a new suit because when Kara appeared at the top of the stairs he felt so unremarkable when faced with the vision of pure angelic beauty. She seemed to float down the stairs due to the grace with which she walked despite the height of the heel she was in, the white sequin dress she wore reached down and glided just above the ground, her hair perfectly framed her face and the light caused it to look like it was glowing and yet all of that pales in when seen alongside the flawless face she wears with such modesty. “Wow” Oliver said trying to not stare, “You look beautiful,” Kara just smiled and avoided making eye contact. “I want her home by midnight or you’re both grounded,” Thea said while doing her best impression of her mother, “Yes Ma’am,” Oliver replied with a laugh, “The car’s outside, we should go if we want to be on time,” he said as he put his hand on Kara’s back to direct her towards the door unaware of the feeling that small touch sent through her whole body.   
Kara seemed entranced by the look of the city at night so Oliver left her to her wondering rather than ask her about how the meeting with his mother went, he had seen much more impressive cities at night, instead he used the time to make note of the new shop fronts along the streets so he would be able to know his way around the city for his other night time activities. ‘The Palm’ had been remodeled two years after he had left for the trip and as such the calibre people who were ate there had improved from what was already exclusive but being the Queens ‘the door is always open’, as the owner had put it, the restaurant’s host showed them to their table, close to the fire escape and with view of the front door, “Are you going to still be as cautious here? I mean we didn’t come back just to live the same way we did while you were dead.” Kara asked after the man had left them, hoping to coax Oliver out of his shell, “I may be like this for a few weeks because I want to make sure nothing followed us back, I can’t do that to my family,” Oliver said and Kara understood, he wouldn’t risk hurting them because of something he did. They ordered when the waiter came, Kara trusting Oliver to to choose for her, she tried to enjoy her meal and Oliver’s company but inevitably the topic of her lunch came up, “How did lunch with my mother go anyway?” Oliver questioned, still under the impression it was just the two of them, “I’m not going to lie to you, it wasn’t just me and your mom, the Bowens were there as well, Moira was trying to set me up with Carter,” Kara could see the way the name affected him, she thought she did, he had become increasingly hard to read over the years but his eyes seemed to always give her a hint, “He didn’t try anything at the lunch but he invited to a party next week, I couldn’t think of a reason Moira would believe at the time so I said yes,” Oliver hadn’t said anything yet so she pressed on, “At the party I’ll make it clear I don’t like him and that will be that.” Oliver took a few seconds which felt like an eternity to an anxious Kara, “O.K, I trust you,” the words had hardly left his mouth and Kara was already babbling apologies but when her brain actually processed the words she stopped and stared, “Really? You trust me?” Kara couldn’t believe how well he was taking the thought of her going to a dance with another man but then it occurred to her that it was just that, a dance and nothing else, “Yes, of course I trust you, if you turned him down my mother would just keep asking for an answer until she got one she liked, you made the right decision.”   
They had been told to wait, pulled up on the side of the road until they saw the car in the picture pass by a certain street camera, then they had to stop the car and kidnap the passengers by any means necessary.  
Oliver payed the man with his card and then they got up to leave, out of the corner of her eye Kara spotted a young woman she recognised from somewhere but couldn’t place her, she seemed to shrink when Kara looked in her direction and then she remembered, Kat, she decided to give her something to write about and took Oliver’s hand in her own, he turned to Kara with a confused look on his face, “Just go with it,” she said with a reassuring smile followed by a quick kiss, if Kat got a picture it might just be enough to get her more readers, she hoped at least. The street was empty except for their car so making their way through town was smooth and uninterrupted, she turned to Oliver with a small smile on her face, “What?” he asked as he too began to smile, “I think that is the first meal we’ve had in a proper restaurant, ever. And it’s also the first time I’ve seen you actually happy in years.” The sudden impact had such force that Oliver was knocked out instantly, Kara could hear the doors of what ever had hit them open and then there were some gunshots in the front of the car, she could see the driver’s body with blood pumping out of his chest. Oliver’s door opened and someone dragged him out, she tried to get her seatbelt off but in was jammed so when her door opened she could only look up, the last thing she saw was the butt of a rifle and an explosion of light then she was out.


	5. Chapter 5

Oliver woke up in a dark industrial building, his hands and feet zip tied to the chair he was on, a masked man standing in front of him trying to look imposing. He looked around the room but he couldn’t see Kara anywhere, “Where is she?” he asked with a chilling calmness, “I ask the questions here,” a man said from behind Oliver, he didn't even turn to see who it was, it didn’t matter, he would kill them as soon as he knew where Kara was. “You would appear to be confused mister Queen, you are strapped to a chair and my associate will keep hitting you until you tell me what I want to know,” the man rounded the chair so that Oliver could see him, the mask he wore covered his face but Oliver could tell he was smiling.The brute struck Oliver repeatedly on his chest, probably bruising and cracking some ribs, “Do you know why you're here?” Oliver had a lot of enemies but none of them would do something as brazen as a kidnapping, “No, where is she?”  
“You must have hit your head in the crash, that woman isn’t your biggest problem right now. Maybe a little rest will help,” the man picked up a rifle from the ground and hit Oliver in the head, he once again drifted through his mind unable to avoid his memories.

**Lian Yu, Four Years Ago**  
Oliver had practised all aspects of his training relentlessly since he killed Winter, he wouldn’t be helpless again, he had been making arrowheads all morning so Kara went to explore the island. She had never seen most of it and it surprised her with how breathtaking it all was, the forests felt like there was an ancient power flowing through them and when the sun broke the canopy the light danced on the ground but then she would she see a truck or a tent and be reminded of the horrors that happened on the island, it was a terrible beauty, she decided. Her wandering had led her to the beach on the east of the island, she had taken her shoes off so that she could feel the sand on her feet, she hadn’t looked up from the ground in a while so she was caught off guard when she saw it. The camp was not too far away so it didn’t take long for her to get back, Oliver walked over to her with a concerned look on his face but he waited for her to catch her breath, when she had enough air to speak she breathlessly choked out, “Boat!”

**Starling City, Present Day**  
When Oliver woke up again he had been moved, he was know in a room that had a trough full of water in it, “Now,” the man from earlier said from behind him, “You know something my employer does not and they have tasked me with procuring that information from you.” the man pushed Oliver’s chair closer to the trough, “So, where is the coin?” Oliver looked the man in the face, “I. Don’t. Know. Where is Kara?” The man stood back sighing, he went behind Oliver and suddenly his head was under the water, he knew he could stand it but how long until they decided to use Kara as leverage, he needed to get free.

Kara was taking in her surroundings, they were the same as they had been for the past few hours but she didn’t have much else to do seeing as she was chained to the floor and she had come to the conclusion that the chain would not budge. There were no windows in the room, just a light in the ceiling that didn’t beat back the darkness much, although she hadn’t been questioned or killed it didn’t settle her because it meant that whoever took her was probably torturing Oliver for information. She hadn’t noticed herself fall asleep but the opening of the door woke her up, the man came over and looked down at her, “Up,” his voice boomed, being the only sound other than her breathing she had heard in hours, when she stood he opened the padlock on the chain, he picked up some rope Kara hadn’t seen hanging on the wall, not that she could have reached it anyway, “Hands,” she put them out hoping not to upset the mountain in front of her.

The rope was a bit too tight but she didn’t see the point in asking to have them loosened, he obviously didn’t care for her comfort, they entered a room and the light caused Kara to squint while her eyes adjusted. There was a trough in the middle of the room with a man wearing a suit was having his head held under the water but he didn’t seem to be struggling, “Hello there,” the man said, a little too cheerfully for Kara’s liking seeing as he was drowning Oliver right in front of her, “You must be Kara,” the man was wearing a balaclava but she could tell he was smiling beneath it, “Oliver here,” the man pointed at the trough, “Won’t answer my question, how rude is that? So I had to do a little bit of torture and it just isn’t working so now your going to be leverage, Ok?” Kara didn’t know how to react, “Good.”

He pulled Oliver’s head out of the water and Kara almost ran to his side but the large man holding her arm tightened his grip as if to warn her, so she held herself back as Oliver choked, gagged and gasped in front of her, “Now, I ask you again, where is the coin?” Oliver looked up and saw Kara, now that he knew where she was he could begin to plan the escape, “I told you I don’t know.” The man took a step back as if to get a better look at the defiant man before him, “You know what? I still don’t believe you, I want to loosen your tongue,” the man turned to Kara his eyes lingering on her a while, she then realised that her dress was ripped and showing much more skin than she would like, especially in this situation, the man turned back to Oliver, “The way I see it, lefty loosey, righty tighty. So logic would dictate I should break her left arm.” Kara didn’t register what he said straight away, his cheerful tone causing her to doubt what she heard, but once she realised he was serious she began to struggle, the brute of a man wasn’t letting go though, he put both hands on Kara’s left forearm and snapped it like a stick, the crack was sickening and her screams were horrific but short lived as she passed out from the pain.

**Four Years Ago, Lian Yu**  
Oliver didn’t want to miss the chance at rescue so he grabbed a flare gun that they had taken from one of the camps and went to leave the plane, “Where is it?” he asked impatiently. The still out of breath blonde pointed towards the beach where she saw the boat, “Can you walk?” Kara took a few more breaths before speaking, “You go, I'll catch,” Oliver was gone before Kara had finished her sentence, “up.” The boat was was still near the island when Oliver burst onto the beach, he fired the flare and watched the chance at escape with as much hope as he could muster, he was relieved when it started turning and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in.

When the boat came closer the crew used a small boat to come ashore, Oliver was cautious of the strangers as four of them were clad all in black armed with bows and swords except for one, a more feminine looking person whose attire had pieces of red instead of plain black, Oliver imagined her the leader. When they stood in front of him he could feel that despite being better equipped the men were still wary of him, “Limadha 'ant huna?” the woman said, Oliver didn't understand but could tell by her tone it was a question, “I only speak English,” he replied hoping at least one of them did. “Why are you here?” she asked again in English this time.  
“I was shipwrecked here a few months ago,” Oliver hadn't thought about how long he was gone, it dawned on him that his family probably thought he was dead.  
“Are you alone?”  
“No, there is a woman here with me,” as if she had timed it Kara walked onto the beach behind Oliver, the men of the group drew their bows and pointed them at Kara. Oliver was almost as surprised as Kara when he saw the arrow in his hand, the tip only going half an inch into his shoulder, Before he got the chance to apologize the woman had already put her sword to his throat, “You loose your arrow at an unarmed man?” her voice told everyone what they needed to know, he was a dead man, “Answer me!”  
“Yes,” as soon as the word left his mouth his blood was flowing, “You do not deserve the gift of life,” she said as he fell to his knees. She approached Oliver but after seeing what she did to one of her own men, he decided keeping a distance between them was the smart thing to do. She seemed to understand because she stopped walking and took down her hood and undid the wraps of cloth around her head, “I am Nyssa al Ghul, daughter of the demon,” the woman looked a little younger than Oliver, her hair was an inky darkness that seemed to flow down onto her shoulders and disappear under her robes, the features of her face had an elegance to them, they showed strength but were also undeniably alluring. Her hazel eyes seemed to soften the slightest bit, “You have no reason to fear me. We are members of the League of Assassins, we have rules,” she indicated to the dead man, “He broke one of our rules.” The woman seemed to be trying to justify her actions to herself as much as Oliver and Kara, “Still that leaves a gap in my ranks that needs to be filled, if you want to leave this island with me it will be by filling that gap, she will join as well.”  
She turned to leave as though the answer was a foregone conclusion, “No,” Oliver said definitively, the woman was visibly surprised by the tone he used, “No?”  
“I will take his place, but she does not kill.”  
“She kills or she stays,” the woman threatened, though she knew his mind would not change.  
“I'll do the work of two men, she does not kill.”  
“I can't justify a person joining and not serving the league to my father, he will not stand for it.”  
“Then it's a good thing you need a handmaid.”  
The woman smiled, Oliver finally taking in her raven hair and beautiful face, “You're right, I do need a chambermaid,” she picked up the man's weapons and handed them to Oliver, “You have to do double or she dies, am I clear?” Oliver looked the woman directly in the eyes, “Yes.”

**Starling City, Present Day**  
Kara woke up back in the room with her good arm chained to wall, the smaller man was sitting on a chair watching her, “You will be sorry to learn that your little injury didn’t loosen Oliver’s tongue, so I now ask you, where is the coin?” Kara was still a bit fuzzy from the pain in her arm, but that didn’t stop anger flaring up inside her, “You broke my arm!” she couldn’t stop herself from screaming it at him, it was cathartic so she kept going, “If I knew what you were talking about I’d tell you!” Her throat was already beginning to hurt, the lack of water making it dry up.  
“I had your arm broken to get Oliver to talk, so what do you expect me to do to get the answer from you? I have some ideas but I think myself a fair man so I will ask once more, where is the coin?” Kara looked up into the man’s eyes knowing she’d regret her next words, “Go to hell,” he practically glowed, “I was hoping you’d say that,” the punch probably fractured her cheek, she watched the door hoping that at any moment Oliver crash through it and save her, yet again.

The beating had been non-stop or at least felt that way, but Oliver could hold out he just needed a second and he would make his move, the beast would tire. The punch was fine, until Oliver moved so that it his head, not the side of his face, the man cursed him and turned his back, the mistake Oliver had been waiting for. The dislocation was as painful as always but he pushed through the pain, using it to fuel his anger, he wrapped his arm around the man’s neck and squeezed, he was unconscious in under a minute. The snap of his neck echoed in the empty warehouse, Oliver barely heard it though, his mind was entirely focused on getting to Kara, the door was farther away then he had thought and by the time he found it Kara’s resolve had been broken and she had started crying. Oliver’s anger had erupted into a full blown fury when he heard the crying, he barreled through the door, nearly knocking it off its hinges and tackled the man to the ground, he overpowered Oliver easily because of the injuries, they both got to their feet and the man took of his mask, “One of us isn’t leaving this room alive, why hide?”

He went high and Oliver ducked it catching him the ribs with his elbow, then coming down on his knee with the other, the man gritted his teeth and went at Oliver again. Even in his current state Oliver was faster and stronger than the man and soon he was standing over him, beaten and bleeding on the floor, “Oliver it’s over, he can’t fight back,” Kara pleaded from where she was still chained, but Oliver was seeing red, he began punching the man’s face, left, right, left, right. As his pace quickened the man’s face became softer and softer beneath his fists, Kara knew the look, there was anger on his face but his eyes were void of emotion, Oliver was not in control. When he finally stopped pounding he moved towards Kara and took the key he stole from the brute out of his pocket, taking off the lock and lifting her up, he turned back to the man’s corpse and used the jacket he was wearing to wipe the blood off his hands. “Everything up to a few moments ago is fine, you can answer truthfully, but we can’t say Oliver saved you, so tie me to the chair again and call the police, tell them you don’t know where you are and they’ll find you. You will need to knock me out. Ok?” Kara nodded and followed the man out of the room and to the corpse of the large man, “How long?” she asked timidly, “What?” he said turning to her.

“How long have you been… in control?” she couldn’t look him in the eye as she spoke, “Right before I broke free and killed him,” he indicated to the body as he pulled a phone from his pocket with two fingers, so there wouldn’t be his prints on it. “Now,” he handed the phone to Kara, already having dialed the number, “911, what’s your emergency?” the lady said as soon as she answered, “Me and the person I was with were taken.”  
“Ok, where are you now?”  
“I don’t know, it’s some kind of industrial building, a warehouse I think,” the man nodded to Kara to continue, “The people who took me are dead.”  
“If you killed them it’s ok, just tell me what happened,” the woman sounded concerned, “I didn’t kill them,” Kara said as she stared at the man as he cleaned some of the blood off and relocated his thumb.  
There was a long pause before the woman spoke again, “Who did?”  
“I don’t know, I have never seen him before,” Kara looked at the man as he got back into the chair, “I’m sending some officers to your location, stay on the phone and stay where you are.”

It was about twenty minutes before the first officers arrived, they started by waking and untying Oliver from the chair, he said that he saw the man alive and then he was knocked out. The officers had no reason to doubt his story, after all he was unconscious when they found him, she saw a few cops look at her confused, they were probably deciding how to talk to her, a little while later a woman in normal looking clothes showed up and walked straight over to Kara, “Hi there,” she said with a smile, it was strained but a smile nonetheless and it made Kara smile back. She recognised the woman’s voice, she was the person on the other end of the call, “You said on the phone that you didn’t know who killed those men, there is a sketch artist I want you to talk to,” Kara looked at her feet before answering, “I didn’t see much.” The woman called a man with a sketch pad over, “Just tell him what you saw,” Kara looked up at the man and then quickly back at her feet, she didn’t like new people, even nice ones, “You’ll think it’s stupid or that I didn’t see what I saw,” the woman put her hands on Kara’s shoulders, she knew it was a tactic to get people to talk, make them feel like they can trust you, but it was still comforting, “No we won’t,” the woman said softly, “Just tell me what he looked like.”  
“I didn’t see his face but not because it was dark,” Kara looked the woman in the face, “It’s because he was wearing a hood, a green hood.”


	6. Chapter 6

Kara had reluctantly let her arm be put in a sling by one of the paramedics before they drove Oliver and her to the hospital, they insisted she would need a full body examination to make sure it was the only serious injury. Oliver objected straight away but didn’t tell Kara why, he had protested the entire journey and was now arguing with the doctor assigned to Kara while she sat on the bed waiting patiently, “It’s not happening, the sooner you accept it the better,” Oliver's tone had been becoming increasingly sharp since they arrived, “Mr. Queen, she needs the exam, so do you and you can't leave without my authorisation,” the doctor was doing his best to stand his ground but Oliver was clearly not going to back down. 

“Oliver,” he looked over to see Kara practically asleep, “I’m exhausted, why don't I just do the exam so we can leave?” her face showed genuine confusion so after a short while thinking Oliver opened his mouth to speak, “They need to look all over,” Oliver closed his eyes and put his head back so he could stare at the ceiling instead of looking at Kara, she took a minute to wonder why that's a problem, “I don’t see the problem,” Oliver walked closer to her and leaned into her ear so the doctor couldn’t hear, “Your back, Kara.” 

The doctor didn’t know what Oliver said to her but she suddenly seemed to forget her tiredness, “I’m sorry doctor, I can't do it,” her voice was shaky but he could tell she was sure of what she was saying, “If you want a woman to do the exam just ask but you need to have one, as do you Oliver,” he massaged his forehead out of frustration as he spoke, “You are both adults so I can't hold you here against your will and frankly I would rather get on with my other patients, but at least talk it over with your family before leaving,” with that he left the room, Kara just sat on the bed trying to hold back tears while Oliver was thinking of a story but he was coming up short, then Moira burst into the room with worry on her face and tears in her eyes. 

“What happened? Are you alright? Did they check for injuries?” at the last question she began to look him over, the hospital had given him a t-shirt to wear so she didn’t see the blood soaked shirt he had when he came in, “Ollie,” Thea looked in the door before taking a few steps forward, “I spoke to the doctor, he said you won't let them look at you to check for injuries.” He put his hands on his mother's shoulders, “I’m fine,” he turned to look at Thea, “Really, just tell the doctor we can leave.” 

Thea walked closer to Oliver but went right past him when she saw Kara sitting behind him quietly crying, “Kara?” she didn’t look up from the point on the floor she was staring at, “Kara what’s wrong?” she only realised the stupidity of her question after asking it, “I just want to go back to the house, please?” she looked up to Thea with red eyes and almost made Thea cry as well, “Of course, but you have to come back for the exam tomorrow, Ok?” Kara just nodded in response, she didn't trust her voice not to crack.

Kara fell asleep as soon as she got in the car and Thea kept asking questions that Oliver just avoided, he couldn’t answer some of them, the last hour or so of the torture was fuzzy which meant he probably lost control. Robert, Tommy and Detective Lance were waiting in the living room when they walked in, “Where's Kara?” Tommy asked with more concern than Oliver would like, “She was asleep, Mr. Diggle carried her up to her room,” Oliver remembered that the man had been replaced at the last minute, Oliver didn’t trust him yet and the timing seemed suspicious, “Why wasn’t he our driver?” Oliver asked, trying to keep the pain out of his voice and failing. 

“His sister in law called him away so we got someone else. Are you Ok?” Robert asked but Thea interjected before Oliver could answer, “No, the doctor said there were obvious injuries but he couldn’t tell how bad they were because Oliver refused to be examined,” her voice was a mix of worry and anger. “Like I said at the hospital I’m fine,” Quintin took out a notepad and pen and looked to Oliver, “Oliver I need your statement, I know the timing’s bad but I want to get it while it's fresh in your head,” he looked back at the paper waiting to write, “I didn’t see anything, there were two guys when our car got hit, they kept hitting me and kept saying how rich they were going to be, they were both alive when they knocked me out. Next thing I know I woke up surrounded by cops, Kara said some guy in a hood saved us, is that true?”

Quintin looked up to see all eyes on him, “Kara said he did and she was the only person still alive who saw what happened so as far as police work goes yeah, you were saved by Robin Hood. If you got nothing more to add I’m gonna go and try to catch this guy,” Quintin got up and put his notepad away before starting to walk out, “Laurel would want to be here, she just isn’t in a good way, Tommy said he’s going to check on her in the morning.” He continued past Oliver, as he went by Oliver said softly, “Take care of her,” Quintin nodded and left to start the investigation into the vigilante the media was calling The Hood.

Four Years Ago, Nanda Parbat   
The sword cut through Oliver's flesh with ease, the second attack he blocked and then countered with an elbow to the face, he felt the nose break but didn’t stop, he followed it up by kicking out the man's knee making him drop low enough to allow Oliver to kick him in the side of the head, knocking him out, the other opponent had been trying to land a hit with his sword but every one of Oliver's movements doubled as both an attack and dodge allowing him to eliminate one person before moving onto the next. He easily disarmed the inexperienced warrior by punching the inside of their forearm, causing them to drop the sword which he caught before it hit the ground and put to their neck, the slow clap of the demon’s head filled the room and Oliver lowered the sword, bowing.

“Well done, you have improved greatly in your time here, you have the potential to be one of my greatest warriors,” Oliver could see the man's feet in front of him, “Thank you, mudaris,” the man raised his hand and Oliver looked up, waiting for him to speak, “As you know I have four of my most trusted soldiers granted the title of horseman, I have recently released one of those horsemen and need a replacement, tonight you shall face the other prospect in a single sword duel to decide which one of you shall receive the title of horseman. You may leave, go to the infirmary to have your wound treated.” Oliver did as he was told and went to the doctor who bandaged his wounds and sent him away, he was going to his room to rest when he heard shouts from the sparring room, he walked in to find Rajul repeatedly punching Nyssa while she was on the ground, “I yield! I yield! STOP!!!” Nyssa shouted, she was covering her head as the strikes rained down, “You are weak, you don’t deserve the title of daughter of the…”

Nyssa looked to see why he had stopped and was surprised to see him lying on the mat clutching his side, she then saw Oliver standing above her with an outstretched hand which she took as she stood up, “Go, get some ice or you face will swell,” Oliver didn’t seem angry but his tone was annoyed, he turned back to Rajul as he got up, his face displaying his anger at being challenged, then he charged.

Starling City, Present Day  
Kara woke up and started to panic, she still hadn’t gotten used to waking up in the same room. The door was closed and Oliver was sitting in the corner of the room with his head down, “How long have I been asleep?” Oliver raised his head and she saw the far away look in his eye, “A couple of hours,” he sighed before asking, “How long was he in control?” Kara tried to get out of bed but a shot of pain ran through her, “Kara you probably have a bruised rib, don’t try and move,” she lay back down but didn’t answer the question, “I need to know if there was something else he did other than just kill those to guys.” 

“Oliver,” Kara still sounded tired despite her hours of rest, “I was chained in a room and the skinny man was hitting me, then he broke the door down and killed him. Saying you were unconscious and tying you up was all his idea, I don't want to talk about it anymore, Ok?” she was near tears remembering the man’s face being pulverised in front of her, she hadn’t seen that level of brutality for a while, even from him, “Kara the police will need a statement and soon, just tell them what you told me, they will just start looking for The Hood and we’ll be fine,” Oliver got up to leave, as he opened the door he heard Kara struggle to try and get out of bed before giving up and lying down again, “I know what you’re thinking but you can’t, if you go after them you will fall back into a hole and I don’t think I can pull you out again, you know I love you but I can’t do that again Oliver, I just can’t,” he left Kara in the room and went to find out who sent those men after them.

Tommy was dreading what he’d find in Laurel’s apartment but it was somehow worse than he expected, there were empty bottles of every kind of cheap alcohol all over the floor and tables, the kitchen counter was covered in takeout food from less than reputable establishments and laying on a couch in the middle of it was a passed out Laurel Lance, Starling City’s ADA. With a sigh he started lightly slapping her face, “Come on Laurel, wake up,” she opened her eyes a fraction then shut them again and mumbled, “It's too bright,” before shielding her eyes with her arm. “It's so dark I almost tripped over your coffee table now get up, we are going to a meeting,” he lifted Laurel so that she was sitting upright, “What meeting? I took some vacation days to spend time with Oliver,” she then remembered why she had a hangover, “Sara, she’s gone,” Laurel fell back to a lying position and reached for a bottle of some sort of clear liquid, “No,” Tommy moved the bottle out of her reach, “We are going to an AA meeting now, I'll call someone to clean this up and it'll be like it never happened, Ok?” Laurel sat herself back up, “You're not leaving until I say yes are you?” Tommy nodded with a smile in response, “Alright,” Laurel looked down at what she was wearing, “But I'm getting changed first,” Tommy handed her a bottle of water and some pills, “Aspirin,” she took them and greedily chugged the water, “Thank you.”

Thea was relieved to finally see Kara come into the living room, she wasn't sure Kara would even leave her bed after what happened to her, “Hey Kara, there is some food in the dining room if you want it,” she was watching Kara carefully, the pain in the way she moved was obvious from where Thea was sitting. “Thanks,” was all Kara said before walking off to the dining room, trying to hide her slight limp, there was so many different foods but Kara just took some yogurt and orange juice, her jaw was cracked or fractured or something, all Kara knew was that it would be painful to chew. 

She took a seat at the table and slowly lowered herself into the chair, Oliver was right her ribs were bruised, she had seen it on other other people enough times to recognise it, she was so focused on her various injuries that she didn't realise Thea was standing at the door watching her, “Kara,” she internally sighed, “I have an appointment scheduled for four o’clock,” Thea walked up to the table and took a seat beside Kara, “You need to be looked at, please?” Kara knew that she couldn't explain why she didn't want the exam to Thea and decided it would be easier to convince the doctor not to say anything, “Ok, I'll get looked at.”

Four Years Ago, Nanda Parbat  
Rajul charged Oliver who just knocked him aside, as soon as he recovered Rajul started to try and land a punch, kick or elbow but he couldn't get through Oliver's defence, Rajul had been training since he was a child but Oliver had the skill only a natural fighter could possess then there was a knee in his side and he collapsed, Oliver waited to see if he would get up but when Rajul remained on the ground Oliver turned and left the training room without a word. Nyssa was in her room when Oliver went to check on her, she was lying on her bed with ice on her face and forearms which had already started to bruise, “Are you Ok?” Nyssa sat up and Oliver could now see she had been crying, “He's my brother and he just kept hitting me, I was yielding, he had won so why didn’t he stop?” Oliver stepped closer and checked her injuries, “He didn’t care about winning, he just wanted something to hit,” he put the ice back on her arms, “Thank you by the way,” she smiled even though it hurt and she could have sworn she saw one tugging at the corners of Oliver’s mouth.

“Why did you stay? My father has let you away many times without an escort, so why return?” Oliver sat on the end of the bed, “The day you brought us before your father he made it clear to me that if ever disobeyed him in any way, Kara would pay for it in blood and I have promised that I would protect her,” Nyssa could hear the certainty in Oliver’s voice and knew that he would never endanger Kara, she hoped he felt as strongly about her, “Your father wants to make me one of his horsemen, to be made one I have to beat the other person he’s considering, we both know who that is,” she let out a sigh as it dawned on her, “Rajul, you will have to kill him,” Oliver stayed silent but nodded, “I understand, it’s you or him, but I ask you at least give him an honourable death,” Oliver nodded again and looked up, “How is she?” Nyssa felt the mood change and she shifted a little where she sat, “She likes the languages I teach her, she gets on with others despite not learning to fight with them, she seems happy,” Nyssa looked down at her hands smiling to herself while thinking of the blonde that even the Demon’s Head seems to have developed a fondness for, “And the nightmares?” she looked back up at Oliver, “Not as often but she still has them, what about your’s?” Oliver sighed, “I’m fine Nyssa, I haven't seen her since I came back from Europe, where is she?” Nyssa nodded towards the bathroom and got up, “I'll leave you two alone,” she strode out of the room, bringing the ice and closing the door behind her. 

Oliver got up off the bed and walked over to the bathroom, he slowly opened the door and Kara stood up quickly, turning to face whoever came in but made sure to look at the ground and not them, “It’s me Kara,” she looked up and smiled as soon as she saw his face, “When did you get back?” she asked while wrapping him in a hug, “Earlier today, I had to tell Ra’s about the mission and then he made me train, this is as soon as I could get away and come see you.” When Kara finally broke the hug and stepped back Oliver saw some bruising on her wrists and a badly covered up black eye, his demeanour instantly changed and as he looked Kara in the face she could see the fire raging behind his eyes, “Who did it?” Kara stepped back covering her wrists, “Oliver leave it, I'm fine,” Oliver stepped closer taking Kara’s hands in his, “When we came here it was to be safe, I promised you that you wouldn't be hurt again, who was it?” Kara knew he’d find out eventually anyway, she looked at the ground and mumbled, “Rajul.”

Starling City, Present Day  
The ground floor of the hospital was busy and there was sick people on gurneys in the corridor which made it hard to get to the elevator but when they got out on their floor it was just her and Thea, “Why is there people in the hallways down stairs but it’s practically empty up here?” Thea looked around as if she hadn’t noticed before, “I guess they can’t afford it.” Thea had spent the time since they left the house trying to reassure Kara about doing the exam but still didn't know why she was being so hesitant, “It will be fine Kara, half an hour max,” the exam room had a padded table, some medicine cabinets, a few posters and a woman with her back to them, “I’ll be right outside, Kara” when the door closed the room was filled with a deafening silence, “Hi,” Kara squeaked nervously, “Should I sit on the table?” 

The woman stayed where she was and didn't answer her, “Um, do I need to take my top off?” still she got no answer, Kara walked up behind the woman a tapped her on the shoulder, the woman screamed and jumped away putting her hand on her heart as if she was having a heart attack, then she moved her hands up to her ears and took out earphones, “You scared the shit out of me!” Kara stepped back feeling awful for scaring the woman, “Sorry,” she didn't know what else to say so she just looked at the floor, “Well? Why are you here?” Kara looked up from the floor and at the woman properly for the first time and saw how beautiful she was, Kara was mesmerised by the woman's eyes, they sparkled like storm clouds right before lightning hits, her gaze then moved to her hair that flowed like dark honey, she followed it down to her delicately sculpted cheekbones that would allow the sweetest of smiles, one that Kara would probably not see thanks to her terrible first impression, then Kara realised she was staring, her face went a bright crimson and she went back to looking at the floor, “I have an appointment.”

“But my next appointment isn't until four and it’s only,” the woman checked her phone, “Four. I'm sorry, I lost track of time your,” she flicked through a few sheets on a clipboard, “Kara right?” Kara didn't look up, she just shyly nodded, “You can sit on the table, I’ll just read through your report.” Kara hopped up onto the bed and found herself staring at the woman again, she had something about her that made Kara want to smile but she couldn't pin it down, “It says here you were assaulted but refused to be checked on the day, why didn't you want to be checked out?” Kara just shrugged her shoulders like a child, “Ok, my name is Jessica, but I prefer Jess, now that you know my name we're not strangers, so talk to me Kara.” Kara sighed and lifted her head, “I didn't want to do the exam at all, Thea made the appointment so I came, can we just get this over with?” Jess looked at Kara thoughtfully then conceded, “Fine, your arm is broken so that’s one injury, what about your jaw it looks a bit swollen,” Jess started feeling softly along Kara’s jaw bone and Kara pulled away, “Right so that will need an x-ray to see what’s wrong with it, now if you can slowly move your arms up,” she started touching Kara’s midsection in different places then there was a sharp pain and Kara winced. 

“Kara you are supposed to say ow so I know it hurts,” she pushed again, “Ow!” Jess couldn’t help the slight smile that spread across her lips at how cute Kara sounded, “Alright that is probably bruised, take off your top so I can see better,” Kara looked at the doctor with puppy dog eyes, “Come on, I need to see if it is just bruised or cracked, take your top off,” Kara slowly took her t-shirt off, pausing when it was off to make sure her back was not seen by Jess, “Ok it looks like it is just bruised so you are in bed for the next week at least and taking it easy for two weeks after that, am I clear?” Kara nodded in acknowledgement and moved to put her top back on, “Let me see your back first,” Kara stopped with the top still in her hands, “Why do you need to see my back?” Jess stepped back a little before answering, “I read the report Kara, I know it was bad,” Kara sank back into herself a little bit at the reminder, “Is there something like doctor patient confidentiality with this?”

Jess seemed shocked by the question, “Yeah but why do you need it?” Kara stood up and turned around slowly, hearing a quiet “Oh my god” as she did so, “You can't tell anyone about this, promise me,” Kara gripped the side of the table tightly while Jessica’s fingers trailed over the scars, bring back the memories of when she was given each and every one, “Ok but only if you see someone, one of my friends she's a therapist, if you agree to see her I won't tell anyone, deal?” Kara would prefer to go to a therapist than for everyone to look at her like she was broken, “Fine, am I done?” Jess took her hand off Kara’s back, “Sorry not yet, I have to finish the exam.” The rest of the time Kara was in a trance like state trying to keep her emotions at bay, when it was over Jess gave Kara the therapist’s card and she left the room to talk with Thea while Kara got dressed again, when she had composed herself she went to wait by the elevator for Thea while she talked to the doctor. Kara didn’t say a word the entire drive back and when they arrived Kara went straight to her room, closed the door and started crying.

Four years ago, Nanda Parbat  
Oliver had searched all over the fortress looking for him but before he had been able to find Rajul, he was summoned to the pit room where he found the other three horsemen, Nyssa, Ra’s and a dead man walking. “The person you must fight to become one of my horsemen is my son, Rajul Al Ghul, heir to the demon and if you defeat him that title will be yours as well.” Rajul stepped forward and stood across from Oliver, “One sword each,” two horsemen walked forward and handed each man a blade, perfectly weighted and razor sharp, “The victor is the man left standing, begin.” 

Oliver fainted low and struck Rajul in across the jaw with the hilt of the sword, the force of the blow shattering it but Oliver didn't let up, the kick to the knee made Rajul stumble and lose focus, Oliver twisted his wrist making him drop the sword. Oliver looked at the terrified man before him then threw the swords to the side and resumed attacking with his bare hands, the strikes where blocked but there was too much force behind them and they broke through any guard Rajul put up, the pummeling was relentless and it became clear that he didn't just want to win the fight, he wanted to hurt Rajul, punish him. Oliver tripped him and began raining blows down, the crack of ribs breaking was the only sound in the room apart from Rajul's pained screams that became more of a gurgling as one of his lungs was punctured, it was too much for Nyssa and she had to look away, he was still her brother. 

Oliver dismounted the wheezing pile of muscle and bone beneath him and picked up one of the swords laying on the ground next them, he drove it through what was left of Rajul's chest and into his heart finally killing him. He turned to Ra’s and bowed, “Congratulations, you are now one of my horseman, I will announce your name and new titles tomorrow, I will allow my daughter a day of grief before celebrating her marriage,” Oliver looked up from his bowed position, “Marriage?” Ra’s motioned for the horsemen to move the body before explaining, “You are my heir but we are not family, not yet. You will be wed to my daughter, Nyssa will be your wife and you my son.”

Starling City, Present Day  
Thea called Oliver a couple of hours after she and Kara got back from the hospital because she hadn't left the room and when Thea went to check on her the door was locked Kara’s crying was breaking her heart, “Ollie she won't let me in or talk to me, she didn't even let Raisa bring her some food, please come and see to her,” Oliver could hear the concern in Thea’s voice and knew if he tried to delay it she would be beyond anger, Thea had only just met Kara and she was already treating her like a sister, “Alright I'll be home as soon as I can, I just have one more thing I need to do first and it can’t wait, gotta go bye,” he hung up before Thea could curse him.

The glades seemed worse than Oliver remembered and when he reached the ‘industrial’ centre he saw why, all of the factories were up for sale or abandoned including the Queen Industries one, he could remember visiting the factory as a child, so many workers losing their jobs would definitely make a life of crime seen more appealing. He had ditched Diggle an hour ago and had made his way across town in a baseball cap and old jacket he had bought from a homeless man for a few hundred dollars, he saw his destination and chuckled to himself about how close he had been to a Bratva headquarters as a child. He walked in to see a few men working on a car, they turned to him but didn’t say anything, “Is Alexei here?” one of the men got up and walked over to Oliver trying his best to be intimidating and if he hadn’t gone through what he has, he just might have been, “There is no-one here by that name, now leave,” he said in a strong Russian accent, Oliver took off the cap and pulled down the collar of his t-shirt to reveal a tattoo, “Is Alexei here?” 

The man examined the tattoo and nodded back to one the men beside the car who left through a door near the back of the garage, Oliver let go of his collar and turned back to the man in front of him, “Step back, now,” the man slowly took a step away from Oliver but made clear his distaste for being told what to do by an American,, spitting at Oliver's shoes but still not brave enough to actually spit on them. The mechanic who had left came back through the door followed by a shorter bald man carrying a phone, “Are you Alexei?” the bald man lifted his hands in surrender, “Yes I am Alexei and I’m about to make a phone call to Moscow and if they say they do not know you, my mechanics will kill your family slowly and make you watch.” 

He lifted the phone to his ear and waited for someone to pick up, “Hello, put Anatoli on the phone,” there was another pause and some of the men picked up some wrenches and pipes, “I have an American with a Captain tattoo, do we know him?” he took the phone away from his ear and handed it to Oliver, “He said he wants to speak with you,” Oliver took the phone and put it on speaker, “Anatoli tell these men to stop treating one of there Captains like an outsider,” there was a laugh on the other end of the line, “It's Ok I know him, crazy bastard, I thought you were dead,” Oliver hung up and handed the phone back.

Alexei lead Oliver through the rear door and down some stairs to the basement, the room was full of guns and duffle bags full of money and drugs, “I meant no disrespect to you, I have just never heard of an American Bratva member and then you show a Captain’s tattoo, better safe than sorry. What can I do for you?” Oliver took out two photos he stole from an SCPD file, “I need to know who these men worked for, do you know?” Alexei picked up the photos and looked back at Oliver, “You did this? Shit I thought I was bad,” he smiled a little and looked back at the photos, “I don't know these two but I can find out, first you need to do something for us.”

Alexei put the photos in his pocket and walked away, then came back a minute later dragging a man behind him, “This man was stupid enough to try and steal from us,” Alexei handed Oliver a gun from a nearby table, “Kill him,” Oliver took the gun, walked up to the man put the barrel to his forehead and pulled the trigger, bang, the body collapsed at Oliver's feet but before handing the gun back he wiped his prints off the gun, “Just in case,” he handed it back holding the barrel. “I'll start looking right away,” Alexei said with a smile, he pulled out a bottle of vodka and two glasses, “Before you go,” he poured the clear liquid and handed one of the shots to Oliver, “Prochnost” they said at the same time, downed the shot and Oliver went back up the stairs and left the garage having killed his first person as Oliver Queen.

As soon as he opened the door to the mansion Thea was chastising him for taking so long, not aware of the fact he had ditched his driver and had to walk the whole way, “She still hasn't come out, she still won't let Raisa in with food,” Oliver put his hands on his little sister's shoulders to calm her down, “I'll bring her some food, you should go get ready, Mom said you have some kind of party tonight,” Thea let out a breath she sounded like she had been holding in since they got back from the hospital, “It's nothing important and Kara…”  
“Kara is a big girl who can take of herself, anyway she would just get mad at you for staying, she doesn't like it when people fuss over her, go to the party and in the morning she'll be right as rain, Ok?” Thea mumbled something sounding like a “Fine” and went to get changed. 

Oliver went to the kitchen to make Kara some fresh food, Raisa was there washing the counter top, “Hello Oliver, is Ms. Danvers still in her room?” Oliver started taking stuff out of the fridge and putting it on the counter, “Yes and don’t let her hear you calling her Ms. Danvers, Kara is fine, I doubt I could coax her out with this but at least she might eat something,” Raisa began listing off the types of food she had offered and Oliver laughed a little, “She’s vegetarian Raisa, she hated when I cooked meat on the island, it was fruit and whatever plants she could find,” he started working on making a veggie curry, “How did you learn to cook?” Oliver glanced over to see Raisa watching him, “I tried to make stuff taste a little less like dirt and I got pretty good at it I guess,” he kept making small talk with Raisa while he worked and when he was done he brought it up the stairs, “Ollie,” Thea was already dressed and had makeup on, “One more thing, the doctor said Kara has a bruised rib so she can’t get out of bed Ok?” Oliver nodded and was about to keep going when he felt a hand on his shoulder, “She also said Kara should see a therapist but wouldn’t tell me why, she said it was doctor patient confidentiality, could you convince Kara to at least go once, please,” she handed Oliver the card the doctor gave her, “If you can convince her to go it would probably help her,” Oliver looked at the card and then back at Thea, “I'll try but no promises.” Thea started walking away but then turned back, “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” Oliver sighed and smiled all at once, “Go Thea.”

Thea said a quick goodbye and hugged Oliver before rushing down the stairs and out the front door, Oliver stopped outside Kara’s room wondering how long it would be before they were trying to get him to see a therapist, then his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Kara crying. He knocked on the door but got no answer, “Kara it's Oliver, I brought some food,” he heard movement inside the room and then the door was unlocked and opened a crack, “It smells good,” she stepped back allowing Oliver to come in before closing and locking it again, Kara was in a t-shirt and underwear and her hair was a mess but she still managed to have a ‘morning after’ kind of beauty to the way she looked and he took a minute to appreciate how breathtaking she really was, “Can I have the food now?” she rasped showing how much she had being crying, “Please?” 

Oliver handed her the plate and took a seat at the desk while Kara sat on the bed and tried to eat, “Thea told me about the therapist, are you going to go?” Kara stopped eating to turn to Oliver and he could practically hear her thinking, “I don't know, maybe? The doctor who examined me said she would only leave my scars out of her report if I agreed to see a therapist, so I said yes.” Oliver walked over to the bed and sat beside Kara while she continued her eating, “She will be able to tell if you're lying, if you go to her you will have to tell the truth, are you ready for that?” Kara had finished her food already so she put the plate down and tucked her legs in to her body, turning so she could face Oliver, “I could go once just to see what it's like, everyone thinks we were on the island the whole time so she won't ask about anything else right?” Oliver just nodded and stood up, “If you need something else just ask me or Raisa, Ok?” this time it was Kara’s turn to nod and when she looked up expecting to see Oliver leaving he was still standing in front of her, he leaned in and placed a soft but passionate kiss on her unprepared lips, soon Kara was pressing back into it and after an eternity that ended too soon Oliver pulled back before he lost the ability to resist her and rested his forehead on Kara’s, “I've been waiting since we got back to do that, we'll have our own place soon, I promise,” Oliver went to the door unlocked it and left a stunned Kara sitting on the bed already missing the feeling of Oliver’s lips.

When Laurel opened the door to her apartment it was just like Tommy had said, everything looked pristine as if it hadn't been covered in bottles and take out that morning. She put her coat on it's hook and started walking around her apartment like it was brand new, when she got to the kitchen she noticed all of the alcohol she hadn't drank was gone as well. On her fridge was a note ‘You are dry until the end of the month, don't hate me it's for your own good, Tommy’, Laurel smiled to herself and went back to the couch she was passed out on a couple of hours ago, she put on the news to see what she'd missed in her day of self wallowing.   
“Oliver Queen and an unknown woman were kidnapped last night by two men in a black SUV, they have since been found and returned to the Queen mansion but the family have yet to make a public statement.”   
Laurel couldn't believe she'd missed this, but then again she was too busy blacking out, she got up and grabbed her coat while taking out her phone to call Tommy, the last thing she needs is to be arrested for a DUI.

Tommy was back in front of Laurels building where she was waiting on the sidewalk for him, “Why didn't you tell me Oliver and Kara had been kidnapped?” she asked while getting into the car Tommy pulled out onto the road before answering, “When I came to your apartment they had already been found and you really didn't need more shit to deal with, Ok? Oliver's doing alright but still hasn't seen a doctor,” Laurel was about to go off but realised shouting at Tommy would be pointless and mean, “Thea text me a few minutes ago, she said Kara locked herself in her room and won't talk or eat, Oliver just got back and is trying to get her to eat something,” Laurel was processing the information when she realised the news didn't say how they were found, “Tommy, how did they get saved?” He thought about his answer then decided on the ridiculous sounding truth, “Oliver was knocked out and tied up, Kara was in another room chained up then a hooded man burst in and killed the guy right in front of Kara, he used a key to free Kara and she called the police.” Laurel groaned, “So while they were being tied and beaten I was drinking myself into oblivion, I'm a great person,” Tommy pulled over and turned to Laurel, “You just lost your sister all over again and you didn't know about Oliver and Kara so stop blaming yourself for things you had no control over right now, am I clear?” Laurel nodded and Tommy started driving again, the rest of the journey neither of them spoke, when they pulled up in front of the mansion it was already dark. 

“Are we going to tell him?” Laurel asked both Tommy and herself, “Tell him about what? Your incident?” she looked over with tears gathering in her eyes, “About us, he’s going to find out eventually either from some media vulture or someone saying the wrong thing, it’ll be better coming from us,” Tommy took off his seatbelt and opened the car door, “It was only a month, he was gone for five years, it didn’t mean anything, you said so yourself.” Laurel knew Tommy was still annoyed over their break up but sometimes he acted like it was yesterday, inside the mansion they found Oliver in the living room watching TV, Laurel trudged over looking at the ground, not able to face him, “Oliver, I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner I came as soon as I heard,” he turned down the volume and walked over to her, “It’s fine Laurel really, take all the time and space you need, I can’t imagine what you’re going through,” Laurel saw Oliver was watching the news, “How did they even find that stuff out?” Oliver looked back to the TV and then turned it off, “The reporters were there before some of the cops, I’m just glad they don’t know anything about Kara, they might leave her alone.”

Laurel wanted to ask about Kara but thought better of it, before she could move her thoughts on Oliver saw the question on her face, “She is asleep in her room, bruised rib, broken arm and a fractured jaw, she said she didn’t want visitors,” he knew she’d love the company but needed rest, “She must be tough,” Tommy stated, Oliver noticed something in his voice that was a little more than worry, “Yeah, she’s one of the toughest people I know.” Oliver’s phone started ringing, he looked down to see who it was but the number was blocked, “Sorry I gotta take this,” he answered it and lifted the phone to his ear, “Hello?” there was the sound of a heavy metal object being put down on the other end of the line, along with some muffled crying, “The men are mercenaries and the contract came from the Triads, that’s all we could get so far,” Oliver processed the information and was already thinking of ways to punish the people who ordered the kidnapping, “That’s fine just tell me where to find them and we’re done.” Laurel and Tommy looked at each other with confusion written on their faces, “Who’s he talking to?” Laurel finally asked and Tommy just shrugged, “I don’t know, he’s only back a few days,” they turned back to Oliver who had hung up the phone and was now looking right at them, “What?” 

“Who were you talking to?” Oliver slipped the phone back into his pocket and sat on the couch again, “A florist downtown, I was getting some flowers delivered for Kara, they just rang to tell me they didn’t have any in stock and I should check somewhere else,” Laurel felt a knot in her stomach she hadn’t felt in a while and one she knew she shouldn’t be feeling now, jealousy, “Oh, Ok well if Kara is asleep then you should use this time to go to the hospital and get checked out,” Oliver sighed and looked to the roof with eyes screwed shut, “For the last time I am fine, if that’s all you came here for than please excuse me, I have a meeting to get to.” Tommy and Laurel watched Oliver leave and his exhaustion seemed to evaporate right before their eyes as he began to project strength and confidence, like it was as easy as flipping a switch. 

The garage seemed emptier without the giant SUV they had yet to replace but Oliver would settle for a very expensive Ducati instead, luckily the helmet still fit and as the engine purred into life beneath him a smile spread across his face. The rush of weaving through traffic at unsafe speeds was one of the few feelings that hadn’t dulled over the years, the freedom motorbikes provided trumped the safety of cars in Oliver’s book, the Yang Chow Chinese restaurant was still open despite the late hours though Oliver could see they were getting ready to close, perfect. The loading bay was unguarded and when Oliver was inside he saw why, painted on the door to the store room was the symbol of the Triads, at least he knew he had the right place, he swapped his helmet for a balaclava and tried to open the door which was unsurprisingly locked but he easily picked it and kept moving, the first person he saw was only a cleaner so he only knocked them out, however the next person had tattoos and a tec-9 so Oliver choked him out and snapped his neck without a second thought, taking the gun with him. There were a few more guards before Oliver found the office, he opened the door to see the back of the man he was there to talk to, “Move and I put a bullet in your head,” the heavy man slowly spun around in his chair, “I don’t have very good English,” Oliver stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, he switched to Mandarin, “Why did you put a contract out on Oliver Queen?” the man looked confused by the near perfect accent being spoken right after English, “Why?!” Oliver repeated more aggressively, “I don’t know what your talking about,” Oliver walked forward putting the barrel to the man’s head, “I don’t know who your afraid of but I’m not leaving this room without the name of whoever ordered the kidnapping,” the man shook his head, “Right now I’m here and they’re not,” still no answer, “You must fear what they’ll do to you, I can promise you a quick death if you give me the name,” the man nodded and carefully reached into his pocket taking out a pen, he picked up a piece of paper from his desk, “I don’t know the name, I was told to go here and a woman gave me his picture and name, she said to put out a kidnap contract and anyone who got him was to ask about a coin and bring all the information to her, I swear that’s all I know,” Oliver took the piece of paper and as he leaned over he saw a button on the desk, “How long before they get here?” a smile slowly crept onto the large man’s lips, “Your a dead man,” his laugh was cut short by Oliver adding to the number of holes in his head, then he saw the gun was empty, “Of course.”

The corridors seemed longer than before as Oliver backtracked his way through the building, the simple layout that turned into a labyrinth when running from shouting hatchet wielding men. He broke the loading bay door down with a firm kick and ducked a hatchet that had been thrown at his head by one of the several angry men behind him, “Anyone who wants to leave here alive should go now,” none of the men moved, “Ok then,” Oliver dropped the first man with a knife strike to the throat and took his hatchet, imbedding it in his skull, he pulled it out just in time to use it to slice open the second’s neck, severing the carotid artery, picking up the other weapon from the ground. He went after the rest with a hatchet in both hands making quick work of the untrained thugs, when he had finished he looked down at the suit he had come in with now covered in blood, “Shit, how do I explain this,” Oliver left the mess of bodies, got on his bike and was gone before the police had even heard about a disturbance. When he opened the door to the mansion he was greeted by a very pissed Thea, “You said I could leave and you would take care of Kara so imagine my reaction when I come home to find Laurel in the living room and no sign of you,” Oliver looked over Thea’s shoulder for Laurel, “Is Laurel still here?” somehow Thea managed to become even more pissed at her older brother, “No, I sent her home but that is not the point Oliver,” she finally noticed Oliver’s jeans, t-shirt and hoodie combo, “Laurel said you left for a meeting, wearing a suit,” he started walking past Thea in the hopes that he would be too far away for her to slap him, “I did leave in a suit and it was for a meeting, the meeting was rough and the suit was ripped,” Thea was about to ask what he meant but then Oliver clarified, “I was on an island for five years Thea, five years.” Thea almost threw a vase at his head but she wouldn’t break such a beautiful object, “You have got to be kidding me, you left Kara here alone because you were feeling ‘lonely’? Unbelievable, I won’t tell Kara about this but you’re going for an exam tomorrow and before you speak you better choose your next words very carefully,” Oliver decided to bite the bullet, it was bound to happen eventually, “Ok but get me the same doc as Kara, can you do that?” Thea was relieved to finally get Oliver to agree to go to the hospital but didn’t let it show on her face, forcing her face to maintain it’s anger, “Now go away before I throw something at you.”

Oliver got undressed and threw the clothes he had gotten from the first shop he came across in the trash, he tried his room’s shower but couldn’t get the hot water to work and he needed to wash the dried blood off, he couldn’t use Thea’s because she was already pissed off at him enough and he wasn’t using his parent’s, he would have to use the one in Kara’s room.

The sound of the shower woke Kara up, her eyes adjusted to the dark of the room and then focused on the light coming from the bathroom, she took her time sitting up to try and keep the pain to a minimum but despite her best efforts it still hurt like hell. She slowly made her way across the floor as every step was like being kicked in the ribs again, when she finally reached the bathroom as she supported herself on the wall her hand fell against the half open door pushing it the full way, in the steamy shower she could see Oliver’s toned, scared and glistening back. As she approached him she could feel the heat radiating from the shower and was becoming more and more tempted to join Oliver in the water’s warm embrace, he turned around and she began looking all over his body like it was her first time seeing it, her gaze drifted from his shoulders to his chest and down onto his rock hard abs, she didn’t even realise her hands were following the route her eyes set. Kara could feel a different kind of heat building up in her core as she moved closer to Oliver, removing the top she had been wearing along with her underwear and as Kara stood naked in front of him she felt a pull, moving her towards his exposed body and the world began to fall away, they were the only two people that mattered as she locked him in a searing kiss. Kara couldn’t tell if it was the hot water or being this close to Oliver causing the sensation but she didn’t care, all she knew was her body was on fire and she loved it, she loved him, Oliver pulled back breaking the seal their lips had created to catch his breath, “The doctor said you were supposed to be taking it easy,” she had already passed the point of no return, she needed him. Kara smiled and stared directly into Oliver’s eyes, her desire dancing playfully behind her own, “Fuck that, take me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't always have the details planned out in advance, if something comes to mind as I'm writing it may work it's way in whether I do it intentionally or accidentally, if this makes it seem disjointed and jumpy please tell me, I haven't written in this capacity before and don't know what it's like to read.


	7. Chapter 7

Kara and Oliver woke up around midday and had the house to themselves, not that they were using much more than Kara’s bed. She had been watching Oliver sleep for nearly half an hour, happy to see him finally resting instead of worrying, Kara eventually forced herself from the bed wincing at the pain in her side, her body was covered in sweat from last night’s escapades. 

Kara made her way to the bathroom and turned the shower on to heat up, when she saw how she looked in the mirror it became clear how bad her injuries were, the bruised rib caused a deep purple mark to form and she regretted not getting the cast on her arm like Jess had suggested, the yellowy green colour her arm had adopted was much worse looking than some white plaster.

She stepped into the steaming shower and felt it's heat flow over her skin and through her body waking up all of her muscles, “How’s the water,” Kara spun around to see Oliver leaning against the doorway but she had learned the difference between the two a long time ago and a terrible feeling tightened her muscles back up again, she couldn't accept it so her mind denied it, “No, we didn't,” he stepped into the bathroom and Kara tried to move away but felt the cold tiles on her back. “Oliver hasn't been honest about how much pain he's in, the physical exertion was too much and he checked out after the first round.” 

Kara was hit by a wave of nausea and barely stopped her self from throwing up, “I can make him think he was in control during it but you will have to convince him if he asks,” Kara looked up with a now pale face, “Ok and don't ever do that again,” he started to leave the bathroom, “You were the one who was doing the most,” she couldn't stop it this time and the contents of Kara’s stomach emptied onto the shower floor.

Four Years Ago, Nanda Parbat  
Kara hadn't spoken to Oliver since he told her about the wedding, she didn't say anything to his face but it obviously upset her. Nyssa had been avoiding Oliver since the her father made the announcement because she had come to see him as a brother but now she would have to marry him, the thought of it still felt wrong to her. 

Oliver's training had picked up in intensity since the arrangement, he was taking on more opponents than before and his sparring was becoming more frequent, Ra’s had said “If you are to protect my daughter, your wife than you must better, faster, stronger and more ruthless than you were before,” Oliver had started to notice that taking lives was becoming his first instinct instead of a last resort and it worried him.

Oliver was summoned to the Lazarus pit room and he wondered how many league members he would have to fight this time, he opened the doors to see Ra’s standing in front of the pit with his back to Oliver. “The first time I used it’s waters to heal it felt like liquid fire on my skin, but now I can hardly feel it, I can hardly feel anything. Emotions and pain have no hold on me anymore, I have moved beyond the need for such things, when you become the Demon’s Head the same will happen to you and you need to come to terms with that.” 

Oliver had been slowly moving closer but stopped in tracks when he heard that, Ra’s now turned to face his heir, “You will be able to think and act with a clear mind for the first time in your life, some things will cease to interest you like revenge, hate or love, but when you marry my daughter it becomes a duty to protect her, love has no part in it and before the wedding I want you to swear to fulfill that duty until you draw your last breath,” Oliver knelt down and bowed his head, “I swear,” Ra’s stepped closer to Oliver and drew his sword, Oliver didn't move from where he was, “I believe you but your word is not enough in this case my son, some assurance is needed.” 

Ra’s cut the length of Oliver’s back and brought the sword, now covered in his son’s blood up and he cut along his own chest. As the bloods mixed on the sword he started saying something in a language Oliver didn’t understand and then plunged the sword into the Lazarus pit, the cut on Oliver's back burst into flames but didn’t hurt Oliver, the heat sealing the wound and burning the robes that he was wearing, “If Nyssa dies, you die and your soul will never find peace,” Oliver stood up and when Ra’s nodded he turned and left the room, now bound to Nyssa for the rest of his life.

Starling City, Present Day  
Kara hadn’t fully recovered from the morning and was afraid to eat incase it just came right back up, Oliver was still in the room, he said he needed to get a suit ready and Kara presumed it was for the party that was fast approaching. “Are you Ok?” Kara took a moment to compose herself before turning around and her smile must of looked real enough because Oliver returned it, “Why do you ask that?” 

Oliver moved closer and let his hands fall to Kara’s hips, “You were staring at the wall and you are wearing your top backwards,” Kara stepped back and checked her pastel pink sweater for a label on the front and sighed when she couldn’t find it, “It’s not backwards is it?,” Oliver smiled, softer this time, “It took you an hour to get dressed and you didn’t even know if your top was on right, what’s wrong Kara?”

She sat down on the couch again and looked at her knees that were covered by a chalk white circle skirt, “I haven’t been to a party before, I don’t know how to act or anything about them,” Oliver sat down beside Kara apparently believing her reasons, “Remember when Anatoli set up a 21st birthday party even though we didn’t know how old you were, it’s just like that but less alcohol and no Russian. It’ll be fine Thea should be home around five so try and get something to eat before she drags you off to shop,” Oliver looked at his phone to check the time, “I have to go to a meeting now, it’s about that place of our own I promised you.”

The address Oliver had gotten from the Triad member was a run down apartment block in the Glades, at least that’s what it looked like from the outside, inside there was an elevator worth more the the building it was in, it went up to a bar that was empty except for the bartender and a woman in a red cocktail dress. Oliver notched an arrow and drew it back, he kept it trained on the bartender as he moved closer, “There really is no need for that,” the woman sighed as she turned her head around to see who had come in. 

When she saw who it was she motioned to the stool beside her with the hand that wasn't on her drink as her soft lips stretched into a smile. "Sit or don't, it makes no difference to me,” her voice sounded as though there was a half hearted attempt at seduction but it was overshadowed by her genuine and entirely warranted fear. 

“Do you have information about the coin,” the woman asked, Oliver kept the arrow aimed at the bartender’s heart as he circled around to see behind the bar, it was stocked full of alcohol but there weren't any weapons. “Why don't you have any guns?” his voice was deep and gravely but the woman tried to keep her smile as if she didn't care that there was a killer in the room although the rigidness of her back said otherwise.

“I am merely a middle woman, you can call me Alice and I don't need guns because I don’t pull the trigger, I only put the target up. Now do you have information or not,” Oliver lowered his bow and put the arrow back in his quiver. “Who ordered the contract?” the bartender put a double scotch down on the bar and left the room, “Don’t worry he’s not getting back up, he just knows to leave when I talk about business partners,” Alice put her drink down and slid the scotch towards The Hood, “I can't give you a name because there isn’t just one, it is a group of people called The Six, stupid name of you ask me but they paid me a lot of money so I kept my opinions to myself.”

She finished the sentence with a wry laugh, “You already know what they wanted me to do so where does that leave us?” She picked up her glass and swirled it’s contents to try and distract from how shaky her hands were, Oliver fired an arrow that broke the glass she was holding, “People in low places are good have, just remember that if you cross me I’ll put an arrow through your heart, after every joint.” 

Kara had been at home all day waiting for Thea, she had promised to take Kara shopping for a dress, Thea insisted on getting a new one for the party, Kara needed to take her mind off the fact she had slept with him and had tried her best to cover up the bruising on her arm and side with the sweater and it worked quite well but her jaw was a different problem, it took her a few attempts to get the make up right but it looked pretty well hidden by the end of the hour. When Thea arrived home in the afternoon Kara had eaten and was watching the news in the living room. 

“Kara! Are you out of your room?” Thea shouted from the bottom of the stairs, not really expecting an answer, “Hey,” Thea spun around and was glad to see Oliver had been right, Kara looked much better, “I’m so happy your out of your room but what is that you’re wearing?” Kara looked down at her sweater and skirt combo, “What? I like pink.” Thea smiled at how girly Kara was, “We are not getting a pink dress for the party,” Kara smiled back, tried her best puppy dog eyes and pretended to beg, “Can it please be pink? Pretty please?” Thea sighed and started going up the stairs, “I'm getting changed and then we'll go, Ok,” Kara went back to the couch shouting over her shoulder, “Ok, think about the pink.” 

The news was talking about The Hood and they started trying to figure out who the blonde he saved was, “Who is this mystery woman and why was she saved?” the camera switched to some journalist and the name Susan Williams came up on the screen, “The question we should be asking is what she was doing with Oliver Queen, he wasn't even back a day and she was on his arm,” the way they spoke about Oliver annoyed Kara beyond belief, she knew he was a playboy before the island but he's changed and they don't see that, not yet.

Thea knocked on Oliver's door and when he said to come in she opened it to see him pull a t-shirt down quickly, “What’s that on your back?” Oliver turned around with a smile, “Just a scratch don't worry about it, what time is the appointment at again?” Thea shook some dark thoughts from her mind and sighed at her brother's terrible memory, “It’s at five, don't be late or you're dead,” Thea left to go get changed but couldn't shake the feeling Oliver was lying to her. Kara was waiting at the door when Thea came down the stairs, “Kara, can I ask you something?” 

She turned and her joy was obvious, “Yeah sure, what is it?” Kara’s smile was infectious and Thea decided to ask Oliver rather than ruin Kara’s mood, “Actually never mind, I can just ask Oliver later, are you ready to go?” Kara opened the door and started practically skipping to the car, Thea could hardly believe it after seeing the state Kara was in yesterday. Kara spent the journey listening to Diggle’s war stories, she was fascinated by how close to death he had been for so long and managed to not let darkness control him, “John?” 

He smiled at how she still spoke to him like she was a child meeting a stranger, “Yes Kara,” She leaned forward and he could see the curiosity on her face out of the corner of his eye, “If you were such a good soldier why did you quit?” Diggle hadn't spoken about what happened in years and yet he felt like he had no problem telling Kara, “Me and my brother Andy served together, one day we were walking through our base, just a standard patrol and suddenly Andy dropped and blood started pouring from his chest, a sniper was up on a hill and shot the first guy he saw. 

It just happened to be Andy instead of me. I couldn't go out after that, the thought of getting hit by a sniper I couldn't even see scared me more than facing a hundred men, I received an honourable discharge and used my military background to get a security job,” it felt like a weight had been lifted off Diggle’s chest and then he was pulling up outside the shop, “We're here,” Kara patted him on the shoulder, “Sorry about what happened but I’m glad your here now.”

Four Years Ago, Nanda Parbat  
“Again,” the arrow came from behind but Al Sahim still caught it with ease, “Again,” this time from the archer in the rafters, “Again, again, again,” he dropped the last arrow and looked back to Ra’s, “Why must I continue to waste my time in training when there is still so much evil in the world, master,” Ra’s threw a knife that hit Al Sahim’s shoulder, cutting through the armour and going about an inch into his flesh, “Because I have killed more enemies than you have made and still I find my skills tested by some, including yourself, you need to train so that you can rid the world of evil unchallenged, and I don’t want my daughter’s husband injured or dead three days before the wedding.”

Kara still hadn’t spoken to Oliver since he told her about the marriage nearly a month ago, her conversations with Nyssa only happened when she worked in her room, always ending with Kara coming up with an excuse to leave. She couldn’t explain the feeling she had for Nyssa, it felt like anger but Kara couldn’t think of what she would be angry about, the only thing that changed is Oliver and Nyssa’s marriage but why would that make her angry? Kara was pulled from her thoughts when the bedroom door closed behind her, she turned to see Nyssa standing with her arms folded across her chest, “Why are you avoiding me?”

Kara went back to folding sheets from the pile in front of her, “I’m not avoiding you Nyssa I’ve just been really busy with the wedding, I have a lot to do,” Nyssa scoffed without humor and moved closer, slowly, menacingly, “That’s bullshit Kara, why are you lying to me? Since I met you you’ve never lied to anyone so why won’t you tell me why you’re avoiding me?” Nyssa was close enough now that Kara could smell the alcohol on her breath and was a little glad that she was only acting this way because she was drunk, “Nyssa, how much have you had to drink?” 

“Only a little but that doesn’t mean I don’t want an answer,” Kara tried to back up but Nyssa grabbed her arm, “I want an answer Kara, now,” she tightened her grip and started moving Kara towards the bed, “I don’t know what you want me to say, please let go,” Nyssa suddenly looked more annoyed and shoved Kara onto the bed, straddling her waist and pinning both her arms down, “I only want the truth, ever since you found out about the wedding you have hardly spoken to me, why?” Kara was struggling beneath her but Nyssa was much stronger, so she soon gave up, “I don’t know why but I just get so angry when I see you.” 

Nyssa seemed to think about the answer then slightly loosened her grip, “Why didn’t you tell me you were jealous?” Kara looked to the side to avoid eye contact with Nyssa while they were in such a position, “I don’t know what I’m feeling, I thought it would pass, it just hasn’t yet, now tell me why you were drinking,” Nyssa sat back on her heels, freeing Kara’s hands but she stayed on top of the weaker blonde, “I don’t want to marry Oliver,” Nyssa had a look in her eye that Kara hadn’t seen before, “I don’t even like men.”

Kara didn’t know what to say, she had thought all women liked men and men liked women, she had never met anyone who liked someone of the same gender, then an idea crawled it’s way into her mind, “Do you,” Kara couldn’t believe she was asking it, “Do you like me?” Nyssa blushed and timidly climbed off Kara, “I think so,” her voice was just above a whisper, “Do you like me?” Kara took her time, different feelings bubbling inside her but she finally settled on an answer, “No, I’m sorry,” all the hope in Nyssa’s face flushed out and a wave of sadness moved across it instead, “Nyssa,” Kara’s tone was soft but the damage had been done, “It’s okay, I guess I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up in the first place,” she hurried towards the door with the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes.

Starling City, Present day  
Thea had Kara modeling the dresses for her this time which wouldn’t have been that bad, except for the fact that there wasn’t a private room, “Thea why can’t we just pick one and leave, I keep getting looks from people,” Thea checked behind her and saw a number of jealous women look away, “Don’t mind them and I need to make sure this dress is perfect.” Kara twirled, showing off the cherry slip dress she had been standing in, “We don’t want perfect remember, we want Carter to move on and leave me alone.” 

Thea sighed and stood up, moving to the rack she had commandeered for Kara’s dresses, “He won’t move on Kara, anybody who sees you can’t move on but we can manage the leave you alone part, what about something backless?” Kara nodded without thinking, her mind on the thought of eventually going to a party like this with Oliver, when Thea handed her the indigo dress she didn’t even look at it, just taking it into the dressing room and laying it down while she maneuvered out of her current garment. “Back so soon?” 

Thea turned and saw a small young woman with a strange smile, “Um I don’t know you,” Kara was snapped out of daydream by her journalist friend’s voice, “That’s Cat, she helped me pick clothes the first time we were here.” Kara sounded happy that she was here so Thea decided to let her join, “Oh well in that case you can help again,” Thea patted beside her on the the couch, “Thanks Ms. Queen,” Thea smiled and turned back to the dressing room, “Call me Thea.” 

With it fully on Kara only now realised the dress was backless, seeing in the mirror how the shape framed her scars, reminding her that she can never fully escape her past, that even though the bastard was dead he was still affecting her life, unaware of how she was feeling Thea was growing impatient, “Come on Kara you must have it on by now.” Kara’s mind clawed for an excuse but couldn't find one good enough, “I don't like the color, can I try another dress?” 

Thea sighed from right outside the dressing room, “What? Just come out so I can see it,” Kara poked her head out the door, “I really don’t like it,” Thea looked at Kara with confusion but relented, “Ok, another backless one?” Kara answered suspiciously quick, “No, not a backless one, something else, please,” Kara could here Thea moving stuff on the rack and then she handed Kara an onyx v-cut lace dress, “I picked up something boring in case you didn't want to wow anyone,” Kara held it against her body and smiled, “I love it, thanks.” Cat had held her tongue for as long as she could, she politely asked, “Who's the lucky guy?” 

Thea turned and as though the words physically hurt her answered, “Carter Bowen,” Cat barely managed to contain her joy, she had found her story after all. Kara opened the door back in her sweater and skirt, “We don't need to try on any more, this is the one,” Thea crossed her arms and pouted, “Kara let me see it, come on,” Kara cupped Thea’s cheek in her hand and smiled “You'll see it on the night,” Thea took the dress and went to pay, leaving Kara with Cat who was smiling like a maniac, “What?”

“So you and Carter are going to the party together?” Kara reluctantly nodded, “But what about that kiss with Oliver in ‘The Palm’, what’s going on?” Kara didn't answer so Cat moved on, “Kara you are living with the Queens, meeting with the Bowens and playing bachelorette with the scions of two of the largest companies in Starling City, there will be loads of journalists asking questions and if you don’t answer they will just make stuff up so please consider using me to make sure that there aren't rumors spread about you. You seem really nice and I don't want rumours to make people think your some kind of gold-digger.” 

Kara had reached the door to the shop and turned to face the young woman, “Ok, your pitch was pretty good but one rule,” Cat nodded and her smile turned serious, “Don't blog or whatever about me and Oliver being together until I say, his family don't even know yet, deal?” Cat hugged Kara and thanked her before walking away as Thea approached from behind, “What was that about?” Kara opened the door and started walking out, “I told her it's Ok to say she knows you,” Thea laughed and followed Kara back to the car, smiling wider as she saw Kara saluting John while he opened her door.

Starling General Hospital  
Oliver was standing outside the exam room having second thoughts about the whole thing when a gorgeous brunette turned the corner and bumped into his back, “I’m sorry I didn't see,” Oliver turned and her cheeks turned a bright red, “You, hi.” Oliver opened the door for her, “Hi,” the woman went in first clutching her clipboard with both hands holding it to her chest, “I’m sorry about that, I should have been more careful,” she laid her clipboard down and turned to Oliver, her cheeks returning to a normal color. “It’s my fault really, I shouldn't have been standing in the middle of the corridor,” something about her features were very familiar but Oliver couldn't place it. 

“Have we met before?” the woman looked to the floor in the same way Kara does, “I'm sure I'd remember, because your you of course, I mean because your famous not because your really hot,” she looked up as the red came back into her cheeks, “Did I say that out loud?” Oliver nodded but smiled to try and calm her, “It's fine, can we do the exam now?” The woman nodded and motioned to the padded table, “Just take a seat, my name is Jessica by the way, Jessica Wood.” 

Oliver moved closer to the table but didn't sit on it, “Jessica,” she turned quickly looking like a deer in headlights, “I know the deal you made with Kara and I ask you extend the same courtesy to me,” Jessica looked back at the sheets reading over his visible injuries, shocked he could even stand, “I can't disclose information about other patients.” Oliver smiled a little, “I'm glad you don’t just hand out information but I already know about the scars, before we continue I ask for the same arrangement, privacy for therapy.” 

Jessica looked him over then nodded, “Ok but I need to write down stuff like broken ribs,” Oliver shook his head, “No, you have to write that I'm fine,” Jessica sighed, she knew he wouldn’t change his mind but it was better than nothing, “Fine, take your top off.” Oliver lifted his t-shirt off, Jessica surprised he had that much movement seeing as he probably had either cracked or broken ribs, when it was fully off her mouth hung open. Oliver’s torso was covered in bullet scars, cuts, shrapnel marks and burns, “Fuck,” was all Jessica could manage. “You don’t say anything, that's the deal,” her hands were gliding over each wound slowly, in utter disbelief, “How did you survive this?” 

Oliver put his top back on, “Painfully, therapist’s card?” she handed him one from her pocket, “I'm sorry this happened to you, it must have been hell,” Oliver nodded and turned to leave thinking about something stupid, “Jessica,” she tried to hide the sadness in her voice, “Yes?” it didn't work, “The party tomorrow, I don't have a plus one and I need to pretend I'm still the man who left five years ago, would you accompany me?” Oliver was regretting the idea already, “Of course, what time should I be there?” Oliver thought a bit, “Eight o’clock tomorrow at the Queen house, we can show up together,” Jessica nodded and tried a smile but it came out shaky, “It's a date.”

Four Years Ago, Nanda Parbat  
Nyssa had been running through the ceremony in her head over and over, it still felt wrong but it's what her father wants so like a good daughter, she will go through with it, “Nyssa please talk to me,” Kara had been trying to apologize to Nyssa since she turned her down but Nyssa wouldn't listen to her, “Please open the door, please.” Kara had been pleading outside her door for almost an hour, she wanted to properly apologize before the wedding that night, “Kara please just go, you told me how you feel that night so just leave me alone.” 

Kara was on the verge of tears, her vision starting to blur with the water in her eyes, “Can we go back to how it was?” Nyssa sighed and answered honestly, “I don't know,” it pushed Kara over the tipping point and the tears burst out like water from a dam, spilling down her face, the sound of the young woman losing her sister breaking Nyssa’s heart. Kara pulled herself to unsteady feet and moved as fast as she could without running, finally getting to her room and collapsing on the bed. 

Oliver was the other side of the fortress so that he wouldn't see the bride until the ceremony, “How long before we begin the wedding?” he was asking the woman who had been called in specifically for the occasion, “When the sun touches the horizon we will start, why? Are you having second thoughts?” Oliver gave the woman a look that answered her question, “You are in love with another,” Oliver had tried to convince himself it was just being protective but since he was told he'd be marrying Nyssa it had become clear that it was more than just wanting to keep her safe. 

“I am but to marry Nyssa would ensure her safety,” the woman moved closer to Oliver, putting her hand over his heart, “I am an Oracle, I see what others hide and believe me, she feels for you also. She may be safe but she will have to live with the pain of seeing you married to another woman, you will be the only one hurting her,” the woman gave Oliver a smile and left him to prepare for the ceremony. As the sun was setting Oliver was summoned to the Lazarus pit room where the ceremony would take place, he walked in and was surprised to see so many league members in the room, they were all in full gear facing the pit and Ra’s. 

Oliver took his place in front of the pit and waited for his wife-to-be, Ra’s leaned in so that only Oliver could here him, “The Oracle told me of your feelings for the maid, Kara, if you are unfaithful to my daughter I will make you watch as I cut off every piece of that whore with a dull knife.” He stood back again knowing he had made his point, but not knowing he now lived on borrowed time. 

The Oracle entered the room and knew from the look on Oliver's face that Ra’s had made his threat but also that it didn't have the desired effect, she too was a dead woman walking. The Oracle took her place beside Ra’s and beckoned Nyssa to enter, she was dressed in blood red satin robes that were tightly wrapped around her body but didn't seem to be held on by anything but her natural curves, she stood beside Oliver and could feel the tension between him and her father.

“There is no vow more sacred nor covenant more holy than the one between man and woman, with this ceremony your souls are bound together, forever joined. You will never be free you will always be held captive by your love for eachother, and for this shared life we offer blessings,” the Oracle puts some sort of matching bracelet on their arms, “The union is sealed.” All the league members in the room lifted their swords, Ra’s spoke first, “You may return to my daughter's room, one you now share, and consummate the marriage,” Oliver turned followed by Nyssa and they both left headed for the room.

Once inside Nyssa walked over to the bed and began to derobe, “Nyssa stop,” she turned with the material sitting just above her breasts, “What is it husband?” Oliver locked the door, “I don't want to have sex with you, I know the marriage tradition but I wasn't going to marry you because I don't love you like that, I only went through with it because Ra’s threatened to torture and kill Kara,” Nyssa pulled her robes back up to her shoulders, “Oh, so what now?” Oliver looked at Nyssa and sighed, “I need to kill your father so I can take his place as the Demon’s Head.”

Starling City, Present Day  
Kara and Thea were sitting in the living room when Oliver came back, they were watching some gossip channel and didn’t even notice him in the doorway, “Did you get a dress?” Kara looked over and nodded towards the kitchen getting up and turning to Thea, “I’ll be back in a minute,” Thea wanted to know what they were talking about but didn’t press, “Ok, I’m taking the last macaron though.” Oliver followed Kara into the other room and leaned back against the counter top, “Macarons huh?” 

Kara playfully slapped him on the arm, “She thinks I was on an island for five years and have no memory of before that so she is showing me the world through food,” Oliver tilted his head and smiled, “It’s good to see you back to normal. Jessica gave me the same deal as you, except she is saying I have no injuries,” Kara sat on the counter top and crossed her legs, “So she’s Jessica? Should I be worried?”

Oliver leaned in and softly kissed her lips, “No of course not, I’m taking her to the party as my date,” Kara pushed him back, “What? Why?” Oliver leaned in again but this time Kara held him off, “Uh uh, your going to the the party with her and think you can just come back here and kiss me?” Oliver’s face showed how confused he was, “But you’re going with Carter and I didn’t have a date,” Kara got off the counter and started walking away, “I’ve seen her too Oliver and besides I had no choice with Carter, you asked her, it’s different,” she walked out of the room purposefully swinging her hips just to annoy him, Oliver just stood there wondering how that went so badly. 

“Thea I’m borrowing John to drive me to the therapist,” Thea looked away from the screen just in time to see Kara storm out the front door, she got up and went to the kitchen, “She was in a good mood all day, what did you do?” Oliver held his hands up in surrender, “I just asked Dr. Wood to the party, that’s all,” Thea put her hand up to stop him talking, “So you went to the doctor you have never met before, who is super good looking and invited her to the party that Kara wanted to use to change your playboy image, really?” Oliver lowered his hands with an, “Ah,” Thea turned and started walking away, “For fuck sake Oliver!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I left the therapist until the next chapter because I wanted to know if people reading this would prefer a long session or quick drive by. Magic will only be minor, used for plot reasons not just bringing dead people back to life *cough* Sara *cough*

**Author's Note:**

> I am open to suggestions but probably won't change major plot points, unless I have a good reason. No upload schedule but will try to keep it less than three weeks, can't promise anything as it is my first fic/story and haven't gotten into a writing flow, although I will try my best.
> 
> https://discord.gg/ZFCYyFt


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